Read:
Reflect:
To have a beginning there has to be a beginner. Nothing is self-generated. The famous theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, once stated: “Because there is a law such as gravity the universe can and will create itself from nothing.” Meaning no disrespect for Hawking as a brilliant physicist, that statement is basically illogical. It begs the question: where does a law such as gravity come from? Perhaps the Oxford mathematician John Lennox makes better sense when he observes: “The universe comes from nothing physical; it does not come from nothing, it comes from God who is not physical.” So we start with the One who is the Beginner without a beginning: GOD! For this we turn to Genesis 1 where we find the record of how the Creator brought all reality into existence. Several key themes surface which deserve special mention.
First, God spoke and things appeared. His word has creative power as we already observed in our previous reflection on Psalm 33. Whether the things he made appeared abruptly (as the light in v 4), or through some use of earthly material (as the animals in v 24), the source in all cases is the spoken word of God. Without that formative utterance there would not be any created reality. So it is clear that none of the things that came into existence were self-generated. God spoke and things became.
Secondly, creation has tremendous diversity. On the macro level there are innumerable stars twinkling in a vast universe, and on earth there are towering mountains and deep seas. Our planet is filled with many forms of plant life and inhabited by multitudes of living creatures. On a micro level the detailed complexity of each creature, cell structures and DNA chains are astounding. Surely all this intricate diversity must come from an all-wise and powerful Creator, and it causes us to join the psalmist (19:1) in declaring God’s glory with wonder and praise.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Without the almighty hand of God none of all this glorious beauty would not exist.
Thirdly, in a special act, God created the first humans in his image and placed them on earth to care for it.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27).
Human beings are the crown of his creation. They are the only creatures that bear his image, and as such they have the reasoning capacity and decision-making ability to serve as guardians of the rest of creation under God’s sovereign oversight. As God’s first rational creatures they have the capacity to reflect his glory to all other creatures on earth and to lift up the praise of all creation back to God in verbal and sung worship. So God blessed them and spoke with them (vv 28-30), because as his image-bearers they could communicate and respond to his instructions.
Finally, the whole creation was good! Repeatedly, as the various stages of creation are described we read the refrain: And God saw that it was good (vv 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). In fact, when God saw all he had made his pleasure in it is summarized in a concluding statement:
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (v 31).
If God considered all creation very good, so should we. We ought never denigrate the material, physical creation, for that would be to insult God who declared it to be good. Though worship of the creation itself is idolatry, it is always right and good to worship the Creator who made it all.
Respond:
When the psalmist reflects on the glory of creation and the honorable role of humans in it he brackets Psalm 8 with a powerful statement of praise to God.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1, 8)
Let that also be our response to the Lord who made such a marvelous creation.