And it was good

“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:4)

This is another one of my favorite passages of scripture. I know, I know, I have many. But this one holds a particularly special place in my heart and I would love to share why with you in this devotional.

There is something exciting about new things! I’m not a big fan of surprises, necessarily, but there is something really, really awesome about new things. Imagine seeing something for the first time – something you have never seen before. Further imagine it’s being given to you as a gift. At first you roll it over and over again in your hands looking at it, trying to figure it out. You may have some idea just from its form or size; however, you’ve never seen anything like it before so it isn’t immediately obvious to you. Before you are finished trying to take this gift in, along comes another gift – an add-on gift to complement the first one. The receiving continues – each add-on getting more and more detailed, more elaborate than the previous, until finally the last gift is received. There are a total of six altogether – separate yet connected somehow. When this ceremony is complete, the Giver sits back and rests from His giving and declares the entire set good. He has said this after each gift but somehow there is a finality, a satisfaction in the set. That is what we read in this entire passage concerning the Creation. We see what we hold in our hands and in our vision, yet there was One gift given before this started of which we are unaware – and of which we will be made aware of later.

I love this account of God’s creation of the universe, for it ends with you and me. The popular Calvin and Hobbs cartoon had an edition where Hobbs (the Tiger) said something to Calvin (the boy) about an event that happened years ago. Calvin’s response sums up what many feel deep in their subconscious. I don’t remember his exact words but Calvin basically said there was nothing before him – nothing existed before him. Many of the people we meet in our lives have this mindset. This is their world and we just get to live in it. To them there was nothing before recorded history and when they die nothing will matter. Even many who profess to be Christians believe that there is nothing after death – that they just rot away in the dirt and return to nothing. We, the pastors and leaders of the faith, have our work cut out for us.

Throughout scripture we read of the sacrifice of Christ as the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. We read also that we who are saved (who have received Christ as our Lord and Savior) were chosen before the foundation of the world. That would seem to imply that those who aren’t saved would have also been identified before the foundation of the world. Hmmmm. That’s a really, REALLY, deep discussion concerning foreordination – one I’m not equipped to handle at this time. I only know what I read in scripture and this is one scripture about which I have questions. A LOT of questions!

Back to our key verse. I was taught as a child and young man in church that this is where God created the sun, but we don’t read that for a couple more days. So what, exactly, was this light God spoke into existence in this verse? I propose and present to you the teaching of Jewish theologians who have wrestled with this very question. God, Who stands above and outside of time and space, reached within Himself and drew out this thing we can only call light. It comes from deep within Him, it emanates out of Him, and we would say it returns to Him – except it never really left His Presence. So it continues to flow out of Him, giving life to everything we see, know, and have yet to discover. According to these Jewish theologians, this light is known as “potential.” In other words, God gave the dark void of nothingness potential – the ability to bring forth, the raw materials from which to create. He made the emptiness pregnant with possibilities! Light! Life! A hidden vault from which to call forth new things, unseen things, things above and beyond all we could ever ask or think! Because of day one of creation we could now have day two and three and four...through six!

The angels in heaven watched with wide-eyed wonder as God ultimately created us – humanity – then sat back and declared, “It is good!” They must have gasped as God breathed His very essence into us and gave us the ownership and stewardship over all of creation that came before us. I’m sure they must have wondered what He spoke to Adam as they walked and talked in the cool of the day in the Garden. How they must have marveled as they observed mankind who was made a little lower than them, yet was crowned with greater glory and honor (Psalm 8:5). Surely they were curious as they watched how God interacted with His created being called man. They watch you and me, too, for in Adam and Eve were we. Our heritage is founded in Adam, threaded through Moses, purified and concentrated in our father Abraham, and perfected in Christ. We are truly wonderfully made, for in each generation of believers our faith grows more fully and our relationship with our heavenly Father is to grow stronger, ever reaching back to a time when Adam walked and talked with God “in the flesh” – so to speak. Doesn’t something about all of this just make you want to jump up and shout?

It all started with a Word spoken by God Himself. So starts our lives – yours and mine. God takes the darkness and emptiness of our lives and begins speaking into it. First, planting potential, then calling forth those things He has secreted deep in our spirits. With each one He calls out and develops He declares it good. No matter how young or old you may be, God still has more hidden within you He wants to call out. That’s why you are still here. Anything that has lost its usefulness or is no longer needed is removed. Even if it is still young in our eyes. Each created thing – plant, animal, mineral, or human – was created with a purpose for a specific time and place. Perhaps you haven’t found your purpose yet. Or maybe your purpose has changed because of physical restrictions. You still have value, your life still has meaning, you have a new job to do for Him. Allow Him to speak into your life today. Let Him bring new things to birth in your life. Let Him wow you with His creativity in your world. Receive from God a fresh breath of His essence, His being into your heart today, my friend. As Mordecai said to his niece, Esther, “Who knows but you have come to this place for such a time as this?” Receive God’s Word of encouragement today.

Be blessed.