God our Creator and Provider

God our Creator and Provider

Genesis 1-3 | Psalm 1 | John 1

Both Genesis 1 and John 1 tell of God's amazing, loving and providential creation of the world. The account in Genesis highlights the authority and power of God who created all things simply through His Command (or His Word); while John's account explains that Jesus himself is the Word of God and therefore it was through Him that all things were made. Such cosmic descriptions and eternal consequences encourage us to consider our perceptions of God and His relation to us.

Genesis sets God clearly above all by recounting that the sun and moon aren't gods; neither are the stars in the sky or the earth itself; neither are animals, plants or other vegetation; and certainly neither is mankind. But all these things were created by God, through His simple, yet powerful instruction.

As our reading from Genesis unfolds, we find that mankind is given a special position among creation: all other creation was made for the benefit of humans - for man and woman's enjoyment or need; the account of the creation of the human race is given special prominence compared to others, and mankind was given dominion over other creation. Finally, we are told that the human race alone was made in the image of God to live in a relationship with Him.

In response to the loving and providential creation of God, we read that man and woman were tempted by the serpent and disobeyed the command of God. As a result they were removed from the perfect land of Eden and from the perfect relationship they enjoyed with God. This reflects the two fundamental problems of the world today - there is suffering (because the world is no longer perfect) and we struggle to relate to God (because we are no longer perfect).

John's Gospel, written after much history had elapsed following the time of Adam and Eve, records God's long-term response to the revolt of Adam and Eve (and all who followed them). He sent His Son, who was present and active during the creation of the world, to walk the earth as a man. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." This claim has confounded many over the years, and is still a stumbling block to millions today. Why would the eternal God take on the nature of mortal man?

You have perhaps heard the answer from well-meaning or vocal Christians: "Because God loves us" - or perhaps you've heard the verse "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). The problems established when Adam and Eve ate the fruit found their solution only in the earthly life and death of Jesus. Therefore out of love for us, God provided His Son as a sacrifice in our place to restore our relationship with Him, and to guarantee a future in the perfect dwelling place of heaven.

It is impossible for us to fully appreciate what God must have gone through in sending Jesus to earth. Verses 10 to 11 of our reading from John especially highlight the contrast between the love of God and the ungrateful and ignorant state of mankind to whom God sent His Son to die: "[Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." I can think of no greater frustration than is found in this circumstance: the Creator walked among His creation, and they did not recognise Him. And even though He came for their benefit, as we shall read, they eventually killed Him.

To the glory of God, however, Jesus died as a sacrifice. He died in the place of those who killed Him and all others in need of restoration to God. You see, God has made it so that if we believe that Jesus died in our place we can live in His place: "...to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." All we must do to be restored to God and to be guaranteed eternity in heaven with Him, is to believe in the power of His son's death.

It is a bit of a shock, I find, to read about the creation of the universe, to get a hint of the glory of God and to be reminded of His love in sending his Son (as we have just done) and then remember that I'm sitting in front of a computer screen, and as soon as I finish writing I will get back to my day-to-day issues and problems and will somewhat forget the perspective of God's active presence in my life. I let the mundane and ordinary things, or perhaps more tellingly, the temporary things impact my life much more than they should - and I neglect to allow the glorious things of God to impact me anywhere as much as they should. Perhaps a thought for today could be that we should all try a bit harder to approach our lives rememering how unimportant and temporary the things of this world are, and how awesome and eternal the things of God are.

Pray now, and praise God for His providence, His creation and His love; and thank Him for His Son.