Reflection on: God’s Creation
Reading through Genesis and seeing God creating all that we know as life, my appreciation and love immensely grow for my Creator. One phrase always hits me and pulls on my heart strings. “It was good”. Read through these verses from Genesis below. Notice how much God recognizes, “it was good”. And then at last, “it was very good”.
Please note, I removed some verses to draw your eyes to when God says, “it was good”.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good…
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
I have to stop and realize, this is the almighty, all knowing, sovereign God who has never changed. He knew what would happen to his creation at the exact same time he chose to make it. He knew sin would be in our hearts. He knew we would betray him. He knew we would spit in his face. He knew our precious Lord Jesus Christ would hang on the cross and this moment would occur…
Mark 15: 33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
He knew all this would happen, yet he proclaimed 6 times about his creation, “it was good” and one time he affirmed, “it was very good”. Some may look at the bad things in this world and say, “how can a loving god let this happen?”. I however, look at all these bad things and think, only someone who loves selflessly and truly can create this world knowing how we would turn from him. The bad things were not caused by him, they were and continue to be caused by us and our rebellion from God. Yet our God has always loved us. He loved us before he made us. He loved us enough to set life into motion, knowing very well that Adam and Eve would sin and so would each and every one of us.
Sin is not good, please don’t misunderstand me. God can not commune with us when we are in sin. God did not look and see our sin and say it was very good. No sin breaks his heart. Yet our God is so big and so great that he can see outside of the time he created. So at the exact moment that he looks at his creations and says, “it was very good”, he looked at his Son on the cross and saw the blood that was shed by Him for our sin. What love is this? It is so outside of my understanding. It is not based on any conditions. It is not based on any expectations. It is not based on anything we do. It is simply poured out on us.
Yes when I read through Genesis and read through the creation story, I see Christ. I see the blood covering our sin. I see a love that is so amazing, so awe inspiring. I see my Heavenly Father breathe life into this Earth with the knowledge of what’s to come. I see my Heavenly Father and his perfect plan of laying The Son’s life down for ours. I see love. I see that, “it was very good“.