The Good Creator

I've been meditating on the theme of goodness in the scriptures, and this has taken me back to the beginning of the Bible and to the beginning of the history of our world. Last week, I wrote to you about the first five verses of Genesis. Today, let's look at the next five verses.

"And God said, 'Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.' So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault 'sky.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

"And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters he called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:6-10 NIV)

As I mentioned last week, it is often assumed that the Bible and science are at odds with one another regarding the origins of our world. But the story told in the Bible and the stories commonly proposed by modern science are surprisingly similar. Scientists suggest that the earth's atmosphere formed after its creation and, early on, was made up primarily of water vapor. As the planet cooled, water condensed on the surface of the earth, forming vast oceans that covered most, if not all, of the planet. Land masses are thought to have emerged later as the planet continued to cool. The similarity here is uncanny, especially considering how little scientific knowledge we tend to assume people had thousands of years ago when they first began to recite to one another the poetry that appears at the beginning of Genesis.

As with the first five verses, the primary thing the Bible adds to the story is the goodness of the above described events - a goodness intentionally bestowed and joyfully declared by a good and sentient creator. In the beginning, there was goodness. That goodness is still here, even in the midst of everything that is broken around us. And it is possible to know him.

A prayer for today:

Creator of the universe, I want to know you. I want to know your goodness and become part of it. Show yourself to me and come work your goodness in me. Amen.

Love in Christ,

Michelle