Bean Soup: Day 2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? (Psalm 8:3,4)
The first casualty of relegating the Old Testament to the back burner of our theology, is the importance and centrality of the Creation account.
Today we, by the grace of God, have highly credible scientists who are also believers in the inerrancy of Scripture. These men can and do stand toe-to-toe with those in our modern culture who proclaim Genesis is a fable and only evolutionary theory is “good” science. If it were just about offering solid proof, then we would already see both viewpoints taught in our public schools and both sides being debated robustly at our universities. But we know that is not the case; even if it were, it wouldn’t solve the underlying problem that flows from a generation’s-old neglect of the Creation story.
The problem is that we don’t have to read very far into Genesis before we run into two of the Bible’s most foundational claims: God created all that exists, and because He created it, He is in control of it. These are not popular ideas these days—if they ever were.
If we don’t understand that our lives, our times, the very earth beneath us, is under the control and care of the One who created it, for His purposes and according to His plan, then we will live out the years of our life as a series of disjointed events—“good luck” and “bad times”—controlled by circumstances and our best-laid plans.
God’s ownership of it all—His sovereignty—is a tough concept. For most of us it will take a lifetime to accept it, let alone understand it. But, that is what heaven is for…
The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God to a rebellious and worldly Israel, said the following words that illustrate so beautifully the absolute reality of God’s hand in and over all--every single bit--of His Creation:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10,11).
Nancy Shirah
