If you’ve been a Christian or read much of your Bible, I’m sure you’ve read, heard or studied Genesis 1. Often when I start over in reading the Bible through, I dread starting because this passage is so familiar to me that I think it will be boring. But every time I sit in wonder of the Word of God and how rich it is. Every time I notice new things in the passage that are so cool. Here are a two of the new insights I saw this time.
1. God begins with the basic needs of life.
As I read through days 1 and 2 of creation, I realize that what God created in the first two days was much more basic and seemingly more uncomplicated than the other days. On the other days He created with greater variety and volume. These first two days really just mention a few simple things. In day 1 He created light and separated it from darkness and named them Day and Night. On day 2, He separated the waters and named what was in between “Heaven” or what we call atmosphere or air.
It’s intriguing that these two days are days of separation. Isn’t it strange to think that before day 1, there was no light? And then after God created light, He then had to separate that from darkness in verse 4, making day and night. Then He had to separate the waters, because I guess water was everywhere. He separated it with air so we could breathe.
Though the rest of the days of creation had more things to create, these first two days are the building blocks of life. We cannot survive without light and air. And our infinitely wise God began His creative work of the universe with these things. That’s a reason to stand in awe of Him.
2. God is so creative.
Can you imagine day 3? God created every plant. The variety of colors, leaves, heights and flowers. The fact that He made them so they can reproduce themselves with seeds. The fact that some bore fruit for us to eat. All the different types of edible plants He made with different flavors and vitamins we would need. Just think about how many shades of green He made that day. How many different shapes of leaves.
Then He created the sun and moon. He made it so that they tell time- the clock of creation. What a neat idea. A clock that everyone in the world can see all the time. The way they mark time by circling each other and how consistent they are. He’s unbelievably wise.
Then with days 5 and 6, another burst of creativity. This day was different from day 3, because with this creation comes locomotion. Moses notes this difference twice in verses 20-21 as he shows that these creations of creatures and birds will move. They will swarm and fly. God was so creative even in the way things would move. Through the sea, air and land there are so many unique ways of locomotion. Think about snakes who slither, frogs that hop, and eagles who soar. Spiders with so many legs and humans with just two. Whales and sharks that survive underwater and fish with gills. Some animals like frogs that start as tadpoles living in the water and transition to life on land. Eggs that will hatch and become birds that glide through the sky. And the crowning moment of creation, when this creative God makes something in His own image, man.
I think we often overlook how amazing our God is. The God of the Bible who created from nothing. His creativity is unbelievable, and He is so wise in the way He set the world on its foundations. He not only created the things that we would need for life, but even the fact that we need them. He formed gravity and gave us our need for water then supplied the world with the water cycle. He gave us light to see and made the eyes that would need that light. He gave us a variety of delicious foods from both plants and animals and made a way for our bodies to eat them. His wisdom is truly unsearchable and His power awe inspiring. Praise God for His unbelievable creativity!
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