There’s so much here that we’ll never cover it all, or even scratch the surface. But a few things I choose to cover this time through:
Did God create? Did He create in a literal six days?
God did not give us an exhaustive account of creation here. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, writing with the purpose of documenting the history of the nation of Israel, whose transformation from slavery to conquerors he was attempting to lead. The questions in their minds about origins were much different than ours are. No one in that day doubted that the earth and life are the creations of a transcendently existent, powerful and intelligent God, so Moses didn’t record all the details we would like to have to satisfy the questions raised by modern man. But just because the details aren’t there, doesn’t mean that the Bible’s account of creation is inaccurate.
If you want to know how something happened, you consult eyewitnesses. Who was present to witness creation? Only God. So why wouldn’t we accept His account as authoritative? Man’s wisdom has arrived at accounts of origins of the universe, of life, and of man, based on observations of what is present today: matter and processes he observes today. Science’s theories of origins assume that the processes we observe today have always continued as they are today, which is not necessarily true. In fact, tomorrow’s reading tells about a one-year process that formed much of what we see today. A similar modern-day experience on a smaller scale would be the Mount St. Helens eruption. The processes that they think take millions of years can in a catastrophe take a very short period of time – days, even.
The theories of origins devised by man are inconsistent with the laws of nature, such as the law of entropy, which states that everything goes from a state of order to disorder, unless energy is applied to stop that process of decay. Microbiologists no longer believe in evolution, based on discoveries of how a cell, even a simple cell works. The discoveries about the cell wall itself leave those who know the most about it in awe, unable to believe that it could happen by chance in any amount of time. They believe that a cell is evidence for intelligent design, even if they are not willing to admit that the designer is God.
This story in today’s reading confronts us with a choice: will we choose to believe God, despite what man’s most revered wisdom has devised, or will we risk man’s derision and choose to believe God? If we doubt what God (the only eyewitness) tells us about creation, how trustworthy can we consider His account of man? Of His plan to redeem man; indeed, of the actual need to redeem man? Our choice of whether or not to believe this account of creation has critical consequences for our belief of other truths of which the enemy will want to deceive us. Faith needs to be exercised to believe any account of creation, for none of us were present to witness it; who will you choose to believe, the One who is called faithful and true, or the one who is a deceiver?
What does His creation teach you about God? Creation and God’s method of creation speak to us in different ways. I challenge you to consider this today: what does God’s creation declare to you? For example, a couple observations off the top of my head: That cell wall. If the more man, even a skeptical man, knows about the cell wall alone, drives him in awe to believe in intelligent design, God’s design is truly wonderful. Usually, the more we understand about something, the less amazing it seems. Not so with God’s creation; we will never plunge the depths of understanding He demonstrates in His creation. So it is with all of God’s truth. Secondly, He evaluated His work at the end of each day, and pronounced it good. He took satisfaction in a job well done! I like that about God!
The awfulness of sin.
What’s so awful about eating a piece of fruit, we wonder. God had instructed them not to eat it; they disobeyed God. Eve disobeyed because she found the fruit attractive and because she wanted to be as wise as God. She chose to believe the deceiver’s lie that it would make her as wise as God, rather than consult God about the matter. She attempted to take what she wanted, apart from God’s provision for her, when the denial was actually for her protection. She allowed herself to be used by Satan to hurt God, and allied herself with Satan, doomed to be his pawn. Adam ate because he was influenced by Eve.
The same thing that causes modern man to leave out God from the explanation of where the earth and life came from!
Perhaps we can’t fathom the awfulness of sin because we are in the midst of it, like we can’t see our way through a maze because we are too close to it. In any case, the truth is that sin is awful. If we see it no other way, we see it in its consequences: death. The first taste of this consequence that Adam and Eve had was when God in His mercy provided coverings for their nakedness: He killed an animal. Think of the shock that would have been for Adam and Eve: that animal was doubtless loved by Adam as we love our pets. He named each one! There was no enmity between Adam and any of them, and doubtless they played together like we play with our pets. Think how Adam and Eve grieved over the lifeless body of their dear pet, and how horrible it felt to know that their choice was the cause. Think how repulsed Adam might have been that God could do something so awful, when it wasn’t God’s choice at all; it was man’s choice that brought death. These are all thoughts that are worthy of our contemplation today about our own sin and God’s provision for it.
God’s Promise to Pay Satan Back
In Genesis 3:15 God promises that while Satan will bruise man’s heel, there is a man who will be born one day who will crush Satan’s head. This is God’s announcement that He isn’t giving up on man, that He has a plan to rescue him from Satan’s clutches. Don’t miss this important verse, for it’s what the whole Bible is about!
Is God Good?
Part of sin’s consequence was that the creation was changed. Caring for it would no longer be the delight it had been; it would be toil. Tomorrow’s reading tells us about further changes to creation resulting from man’s sin. God’s creation was something He called “good” over and over again; man’s sin ruined it. So when we see something awful in creation, we are in error to think, “If God is so good, why is this awful thing part of His creation?” Isn’t it scary to realize that sin has consequences beyond the obvious, and that nature suffers for our sin?