Sunday
Sunday
The Creator’s Initiative
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
The first four words of the Bible (“In the beginning God”) are an indispensable introduction to the whole. They tell us that we can never anticipate God or take him by surprise. For he is always there “in the beginning.” The initiative in every action lies with him.
This is especially true of creation. Christians believe that when God began his creative work, nothing existed except him. Only he was there in the beginning. Only he is eternal. The God-centeredness of Genesis 1 stands out prominently in the narrative. God is the subject of nearly every verb. “God said” occurs ten times and “God saw that it was [very] good” seven times.
We do not have to choose between Genesis 1 and contemporary cosmology or astrophysics. For the Bible was never intended by God to be a scientific textbook. Indeed, it should be evident to readers that Genesis 1 is a highly stylized and beautiful poem. Both accounts of creation (scientific and poetic) are true, but they are given from different perspectives and are complementary to one another.
When the Apostles’ Creed affirms our belief in “God the Father Almighty,” it is referring not so much to his omnipotence as to his control over what he has made. What he created he sustains. He is immanent in his world, continuously upholding, animating, and ordering all things. The breath of living creatures is in his hand. He causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall. He feeds the birds and clothes the flowers. Again, it is poetry, but it is true.
Hence the wisdom of churches that hold an annual Service of Harvest Thanksgiving and of Christians who say grace before meals. It is both right and helpful thus regularly to acknowledge our dependence for life and all things on our faithful Creator and Sustainer.
For further reading: Matthew 5:43–45 and 6:25–34