Written by: Matt Ineson

Genesis 1 v 29-31
God said, “Look, I have given you all the plants that have grain for seeds and all the trees whose fruits have seeds in them. They will be food for you. I have given all the green plants as food for every wild animal, every bird of the air, and every small crawling animal.” And it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and it was very good. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the sixth day.

Notes
“The world is a vehicle for the blessings which God has ordained”. (Walter Brueggemann) How often do we think like this? 

Genesis 1 speaks very clearly of God’s intention to bless us through creation. God gives humankind all the plants for our food. God provides for all the animals and birds. God gives abundantly in creation. God can be experienced through creation. And our worship should therefore be inspired by creation (including our fellow human beings). Yes, creation is spoiled by our sinful nature but we still see God’s hand in a sunrise, or a flower, or in a friend. God created and God saw that it was very good. 

The word used for “good” here in Hebrew is not moral or ethical goodness but aesthetic goodness. God’s will was to produce something that could be enjoyed. We are meant to enjoy it. Creation is God’s gift to us!

The goodness and holiness of creation inspires us to thank and worship God for the blessings freely given to us. We are also called to look after it. As Christians we have more cause than anyone to be concerned for the environment. Inspired by our faith and God’s generosity we can pray and act, protect and care for our environment - using our cars less, lobbying for greenhouse gas reduction, recycling our waste and so on

So often Christians are so fixed on heaven that we don’t appreciate properly the blessings provided to us here on earth. So go out and enjoy it - that’s what it was created for! Praise God for creation! “The world is a vehicle for the blessings which God has ordained”.

Genesis 2 v 1-3
So the sky, the earth, and all that filled them were finished. By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day, because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in creating the world.

Notes 
“My work never seems to be finished and when I rest, if I get the chance, there is always some job to be done, nagging at me. I haven’t got time to rest.” Our lives, particularly in the West, have become a long stream of doing and yet here is God resting from his work. Creation was finished and God rested. What does this mean for us?

God doesn’t rest out of tiredness but out of satisfaction at a job well done. Everything that God had made was very good. God finishes and is at ease with the results of his labours. This is God’s world. God is the Lord of our lives. So surely we too should have the confidence and security in God to rest. In fact it is a sin not to! (Exodus 20:8) God commands that we should work hard for 6 days and then rest on the seventh, dedicating it to God. The Sabbath rest proclaims that God is in control. We can trust God to be in control while we rest too. We don’t need to worry; the world will not disintegrate if we stop! Trust God. Rest is for our own good. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus said that the Sabbath was created for us. (Mark 2:27)

The celebration of a day of rest is a statement of God’s sovereignty in our lives. It rejects the idea that life is dependant on feverish activity and instead announces our trust in God. 

Our rest and re-creation in God gives us strength for the week, demonstrates our reliance on God for all that we need. It is prophetic and missionary. It is a gift of God to us. Enjoy your day off!

Genesis 2 v 4-6
This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the LORD God first made the earth and the sky, there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the LORD God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground, but a mist would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.

Notes 
God created the world! Can you imagine this as the headline on your national newspaper? But the Bible clearly states that God did. And the more I look into the science of creation the more I have to conclude that God did create the world. And there are many scientists who agree.

These verses are the story of the creation of the earth and sky (v4), introducing the story of the destiny of humankind, our creation and our fall into sin (Chapters 2 & 3). The story was not intended as a scientific account of creation (neither was chapter 1). But it was intended to tell of God’s creative intentions. It is packed with truth. 

Creation was dependant on God. When God made the earth and sky there were no plants because God had not yet made it rain. The potential for life was there in the mist, which rose from the ground but as yet there was no life. The truth is that life depended upon the creative will of God.

Creation still depends on God to provide for it. As we know from our science lessons the world is still changing, still creating. Volcanoes erupt, plants grow and babies are born. My wife and I have just welcomed our son into the world. It amazes me that a new person now exists in our house. It’s nothing short of a miracle, if a noisy one. And that is just one baby. The world is a complex physical and biological entity. It may even be unique. God has to be involved and here in Genesis it says that God is. God provides the life, the creative loving power behind creation. Science may explain how, but God knows why!

Genesis 2 v 7-9
Then the LORD God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. Then the LORD God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. The LORD God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.

Notes 
Who am I? Many psychologists argue that much of how we behave, particularly in childhood, is to do with discovering our identity. Many people spend a lot of time searching for themselves. Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I for? Important questions. 

Verse 7 tells us that God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. The original Hebrew does not use the word ‘man’. The Hebrew word in fact ‘Adam’, which may be a play on the word ‘adamah’ meaning earth. This is not therefore just the creation of a man but of humankind. The key thing here is that God forms and God breathes life.

God’s formation of Adam conjures up an image of artistic creativity. God took time and care over the creation of Adam, as a sculptor would over the creation of artwork. You are made and formed with great care and love, fearfully and wonderfully made.

God breathes life into Adam. At this point he becomes a person. Adam’s, and our, identity and personhood originate from God. They are his creation.

God then provides a beautiful garden and puts his prize creation into it. God provides food. And finally he provides choice. Adam is formed with care, is provided for and God loves him, but he is given choice of good and evil. He is not God’s puppet but is given free will to choose between God and ‘not God’. God creates out of love not out of a desire to control.

These fantastic verses show God’s loving care in creating each of us. Spend some time today thinking of yourself as lovingly formed by God. Think of your identity as being rooted in and flowing from God. And offer your will to God today in worship.

Genesis 2 v 10-17
A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river branched out to become four rivers. The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium and onyx are also found there. The second river, named Gihon, flows around the whole land of Cush. The third river, named Tigris, flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
The LORD God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. The LORD God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!”

Notes
God is the source of the whole earth’s goodness. In the arid wilderness of the Middle East rivers were considered to be life giving. Here in Genesis 2 the river that flows from Eden divides to provide for the entire known world. And all this comes from God. God’s goodness and grace does not only extend to those who know him. He blesses all people through creation. In the same way that Genesis proclaimed this truth to the nations other than Israel so we too must proclaim the goodness of God to us.

God puts the man in the Garden of Eden to care for it and work it. Work is intrinsic to human life. We are created to work (and also to rest!). God entrusts this garden to Adam. From the beginning humanity was called to share in God’s work. Each of us has a vocation from God, which could be to be a gardener, or a doctor, or a lawyer or a teacher or a refuse collector or…whatever! Why not pray that you will hear God’s calling to your vocation.

“Thou shalt not………” Christianity is often perceived in this way. And here in the garden it appears that God confirms this perception. But there is more to it than that. God permits Adam to eat of any tree in the garden except one. There are many trees that he is permitted to eat from. Much is given but not all. The tree which gives knowledge of good and evil is kept back for Adam’s protection. In 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul states that all things are permissible but not all are beneficial. God is more about ‘shalt’ than ‘shalt not’. God’s goodness and blessing are about vocation, permission and protection. And God wants to bless all people.

Genesis 2 v 18-20
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”
From the ground God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky, and he brought them to the man so the man could name them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. The man gave names to all the tame animals, to the birds in the sky, and to all the wild animals. But Adam did not find a helper that was right for him.

Notes 
Off the top of my head I can think of three contemporary pop songs that speak about a fear of loneliness. Part of our created goodness is a need to be completed in others. We need other people. We are created to be community not individuals. But what kind of relationship are we created for?

The word helper in the original Hebrew is kenegdo. This word does not mean that the helper is weaker than the helped. On the contrary kenegdo is often used in the Old Testament to describe the way God helps people. The helper is not a servant but one who will complement Adam. The relationship is one of mutual support and companionship.

At first Adam does not receive a tailor-made helper but has to search for one, naming all the animals in his search. Adam has to make the relationship. It is not merely given. But in the end Adam did not find a helper that was right for him. He does not find relationship straight away.

If relationship in the Garden of Eden was not easy to come by then how much harder is it now for us in the fallen world? Good mutual relationships are hard work. They require effort and commitment. Whether they are friendships or ‘girl/boy’ relationships we need to work at making them good and fruitful, mutual and up-building. This requires hard work but the benefits are enormous. Our relationships also need the loving resources of the risen Christ within them. Relationships bound together in God are the strongest, most forgiving and most fulfilling.

Why not pray for your relationships with parents, family and friends. Thank God for the good bits and ask God to help them to grow stronger.

Genesis 2 v 21-25
So the LORD God caused the man to sleep very deeply, and while he was asleep, God removed one of the man’s ribs. Then God closed up the man’s skin at the place where he took the rib. The LORD God used the rib from the man to make a woman, and then he brought the woman to the man.
And the man said,
“Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones, whose body came from my body.
I will call her ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of man.”
So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.
The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.

Notes 
“Marriage is an outdated institution. Serial monogamy makes more sense.” How often do we hear or read this. 

In Genesis 2:18-20 Adam has failed to find a helper. So God makes him one. Handy eh?! The well-being of Adam requires a new creative act. From Adam God makes man and woman. Together they make up humanity. As with Adam’s creation God takes time and effort in the creation, so that the final results are good. God cares about Adam that much. Note also that God takes the trouble to introduce the two of them to each other. Adam’s happiness is very important to God. And so is ours. You too are loved as Adam was, something I find hard to believe for myself. We are all God’s creations and God wants what’s best for us.

After the divine introduction we have the marriage. The man leaves his father and mother and forms a new family unit with the wife. Prior to marriage a child’s first responsibility is to their parents. But in marriage a couple become one. Of course we know that real life is not always ideal like this. Marriages do break down. But in the act of marriage a couple commit themselves to becoming one flesh; one body through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, in riches and in poverty. Marriage is an enormous commitment.

Marriage, when it is not abused, can provide tremendous security. It is a God designed way of living life as people secure in mutual relationship. But it requires commitment and work to make it happen. It also requires God’s love at its centre.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes