“the creation”

The Bible opens with a very simple statement: (Gen 1:1) "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Some may think it strange that God is not given any further introduction as to whom or what He is. But God with all of His wisdom chose this simple statement to inform us how the heaven and the earth came into existence. It is recorded for everyone to read; for everyone to believe. Granted, if it were not for the rest of the book it would probably be hard to believe. However, when we read the rest of the Bible and we see the marvelous power that God has we can then believe that God was and is capable of creating “the heavens and the earth.”

The very wise Solomon wrote, (Prov 26:10) "The great God that formed all things"; and he was right, God’s creation didn’t end when He had created “the heaven and the earth”. God also created every plant and every herb of the field: (Gen 2:5) "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." This verse also informs us that there was “no man to till the ground.” Of course we know that God’s creation did not end here; He couldn’t leave His work unfinished, therefore, He formed a man and breathed into his nostril the breath of life (Gen 2:7) "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Then once again we see the wisdom of God at work because He realized that it was not good that the man He had formed should be alone; resulting in the creation of a “help meet” for the man: (Gen 2:18) "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."

Do you suppose that God looked at the man He had formed and wondered “what can I do with Him”? I have doubts that this occurred, I believe that God already knew what He was going to do with man, He was going to put him in the beautiful Garden of Eden to “dress and keep it.” (Gen 2:15) "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." The wisdom of God never ceases to amaze me!

Men and women have made great strides to make our life comfortable with man’s inventions of tools or means of transportation etc. Have you ever considered how many steps the automobile has saved you? What if you had to walk to town every time you wanted some milk or bread; we would probably all live closer to town or to our work wouldn’t we? Consider this, man has not created a single thing, he has only invented things of materials that were already in existence because of God’s creation. On the other hand God created everything out of nothing: (Heb 11:3) "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." All the things that you see about you were created out of nothing by our Almighty God. The wood that is in your house was created by God. The metal, rubber and all other materials that are in your automobile were all created by God out of nothing. Man has never been, nor will he ever be able to accomplish this. We need something to invent or to make or build anything.

I am astonished at the change that has taken place in my lifetime. I remember the cars of my youth, the dirt or gravel roads that we traveled on and look at the Interstate Highways of today. I remember the airplanes of my youth; they were small and slow compared to today’s airplanes. I can hardly accept the fact that there is now an airplane that can carry over five hundred passengers at one time. Friends, none of this would ever have existed if God had not first created the “heaven and the earth!”

There are so many things that we have today that we should be thankful for. First, I would not even be in existence if God had not created man. If it weren’t for God there would be nothing for me to eat or drink. If it were not for God there would be no water for me to wash with or to drink, nor could the plants and herbs grow so that we can survive. Most of all though I am thankful for the love of God [Jn. 3:16]; because it is because of His love that I and all who will obey the gospel of Jesus Christ have salvation. Brethren, take time out of your busy day to give God thanks. God deserves this and it is the least that we can do!

-Bud