“Firmament!” she shouted. We were in another city traveling with good friends when we ran into a fellow Houstonian who supported our alma mater. Her green and gold garb gave her away. When we spoke to her and her friend, she found out I am a pastor and excitedly said, “Firmament!” Then with a look of assurance, she said, “I know. Right?” I didn’t know what she meant but I later learned that many thought the word means a dome, as if the world were covered with a vault. Actually, the Hebrew word Raqia means something that has been stretched out. God stretched out the firmament or the sky.
If you read the King James version, as I did for many years, you discover that the second day of creation was dedicated to creating the firmament, separating the water above from the water below. Our translation calls it a vault. The ESV translates it expanse and heaven. In the NLV the word is space. The writer mentions it ten times in the first description of creation. People in the ancient world knew there was water that came down from the sky, and water that flowed on the ground. As part of creation, God established a sky that would hold and release rain. Noah learned all about it! Between the water above and water below, God would form dry ground.
When Melanie and I arrived at a restaurant, after our Sunday morning services, the firmament broke loose. Sheets of rain fell. In that moment, we wished the vault would close! Thankfully it did. The Gaithers sang one of my favorite songs: “Morning sun. Light of creation. Grassy fields, a velvet floor. Silver clouds, a shimmering curtain. He’s designed a perfect world. I’m amazed at his talents, stand in awe of one so great. Then my soul begins to sing out, to the source from which it came. Bless the Lord, who reigns in beauty. Bless the Lord, who reigns with wisdom and with power. Bless the Lord, who fills my life with so much love. He can make a perfect heart.”
I love the beautiful world we live in, because I know the God who created all that we see and love also created us. In fact, he is still working. Paul would write to the Ephesians, “You are God’s masterpiece created to do good works in Christ Jesus.” Bless the Lord who created our world, and ask him what he wants you to do today.
