2017/08/06 Based off Genesis 1

 August 6, 2017

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. '

Genesis 1:1-5

Creation, the beginning of all things physical. Stars, planets, suns, solar systems, galaxies. All made and set into place by God.

The scope of it all is beyond comprehension. With the advent of powerful telescopes, we are learning more about our universe than ever before. We are an extremely tiny planet in a very small solar system in a rather obscure galaxy, and science tells us there are more than 100 billion galaxies.

If we compare our sun with many other suns, ours looks like a pea next to a beach ball. Some stars are so large that Earth wouldn’t even register as a period at the end of a sentence. If we compare Earth with the other planets in our solar system, again we are small. Compared to Jupiter, Earth would look like a grape next to a large watermelon.

Are you getting the idea that our world is seemingly insignificant, physically, compared to our own solar system, even more insignificant in our galaxy, never mind all those hundred billion far larger galaxies?

Yet this tiny speck is home to the most epic event in all time and space. Here, God chose to build a world He could come to and populate with beings He could love and have a relationship with.

Did you ever notice that God’s choices are so often unexpected?
God chose Abraham and Sarah to found the Jewish people, and they were old when Isaac was born, really old, far beyond childbearing years. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90.
God chose Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, and he was a murderer and apparently a very poor speaker, so poor he needed his brother to speak for him.
David was the youngest son of Jesse, the least of his brothers.
The apostles, who would become the teachers, founders, and leaders of the newborn church, were not educated or religious leaders. They were, for the most part, laborers and fishermen.

Unexpected choices, just like Earth, an unexpected place for such an epic adventure: God and His people living together.

Our planet has wide oceans teeming with life. Mountains soar from the earth. Countless trees blanket the land. It’s filled with uncounted numbers of animals and plants. We see waterfalls, grand canyons, vast deserts with their own beauty, glorious flowers, breathtaking sunsets, but none of these are God’s greatest work. People are. We are made in His image.

He had a perfect relationship with the Son and the Holy Spirit, but He wanted more. He built all this and set His plans into motion. All things, all time, are His, and He chose to populate this tiny place with people He could live with and love, and who could love Him in return.

My biggest question has always been: why?
God is perfect and complete. He needs nothing. He exists outside of time. He has always been and always will be. His plans span eternity. We are short stories, birth, death, work, joys, and sorrows. Why does He want our love and companionship?

I think I have an idea.
I never particularly wanted children. It’s not that I didn’t like them; I just had no desire to have any. Then I met Ron. When we married, our love was so strong and deep that suddenly I wanted more. I wanted something that was part of us both, made from the best of each of us. I wanted a child to love, to share life with, to watch grow, to be part of our love. I got Brian and Fiona, and they have been two of my greatest joys.
God created us in His image. Perhaps that desire to have children was in Him also. He has so much love to share, He is love.

Creation is said to have taken place over six days, with the seventh day as rest.

• Day 1: light and darkness

• Day 2: water and sky

• Day 3: land

• Day 4: sun, moon, and stars

• Day 5: fish and birds

• Day 6: animals

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in His own image, male and female He created them.

Over all creation God said, “It is good,” but over people He said, “It is very good.”

Here they were, in a place named Delight, Eden. It had everything to make them happy: abundant food, all of nature to enjoy safely, perfect weather, fulfilling work (remember, they tended the garden). They walked with and talked with God, sharing their lives with Him.

But they also had one more thing: freedom.
God had not made robots. He made independent, self-determining persons. He did not want little “yes-men” who did only what they were told. He wanted real companions who would choose to love Him, who would treasure His company.

This freedom was dangerous, but worth the risk.
Imagine if your only friends were people you paid to be with you. They wouldn’t care about you, only about the money. They wouldn’t be there because they liked you, admired you, or enjoyed your humor, but only for the paycheck. That would not be friendship at all.

You want friends who like you for who you are. They care about you.
This is what God wanted.

And the freedom He gave Adam and Eve was risky, but necessary. And in the end, that freedom caused, and still causes, so much trouble.

By taking and eating the forbidden fruit, the pair showed selfishness. They knew and walked with God. They had perfect health, wonderful food ready to pluck from the trees, peace, and beauty. But with all that, they wanted more. They wanted to be like God.

And in even more selfishness, when God asked what they had done, they didn’t apologize or ask for forgiveness. Adam blamed God: “You gave me that woman. She made me eat the fruit.”
Eve blamed the serpent.
Neither blamed themselves.

It was the beginning of a new world of bad choices.

And the bad choices continued.
Cain killed his brother out of jealousy.
The infection of selfishness and poor choices spread through creation.
Animals that had been tame and friendly and ate grass now killed and ate flesh.
Disease began.
War was born.
Humanity became so evil that God wanted them gone from His creation, everyone except one man and his family who still cared, who still wanted to be a friend of God: Noah.

But even after the flood, bad choices continued.
Noah got drunk and shamed himself.
Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife, and that lie harmed the people he deceived.
Abraham and Sarah tried to hurry God’s plan, and Ishmael was born, a choice whose consequences still echo thousands of years later.
David chose adultery.
Kings of Israel chose pagan idols and suffered war and captivity.
Judas chose to betray Jesus.

Bad choices over and over again, yet God loves and offers second chances, and third chances, and fiftieth chances, and thousandth chances. God’s plan moves forward and will continue until it is complete.

God knew the risks, and He had plans in place from the beginning, the start of His upper story that spans time.
I’ve heard people say that God was disappointed when Plan A (Adam and Eve) failed, so He tried Plan B (Noah), and when that failed, He tried Plan C.
That’s simply not true.

He gave chance after chance, and He continues to give new chances. And He had His overall plan in place all along. He always knew there would be some who would love Him. And He had a plan to save us, redeem us, and bring us back into companionship and shared love.

That plan was Jesus all along.
And the plan is still unfolding and will continue until time ends and we begin eternity with God in perfect harmony.

And still, there is freedom.
We can choose Jesus and God, or we can reject them.
We still have the freedom God gave us.

Creation, beauty, a perfect garden, and a beautiful life.
Then selfishness and sin.
Then a great flood.
Then life begins again, but all is not better.
Yet all is not lost, because God begins to build a nation.