Any questions? I remember a conversation with a young man on a plane. He was an expert on the Bible, or so he thought. As he saw me reading the Bible he said, “You don’t have to go very far to see it isn’t true, right?” I assured him I believe it is true but opted not to debate with the stranger. When we read the first two chapters, we notice the story of the creation of humankind in chapter one is amplified in the second chapter. What is God trying to tell us in these chapters?
Here is what I see: God has always been. God created everything in the world. God talks. He created the universe purposefully. God created light, sky, land, trees, planets, birds, animals, and people in ordered world. Each day, evening and morning, he surveyed his work and liked it. But when he created humankind in his own image, he liked them very much.
God wanted a relationship with his creation. He gave the man land to work and shared with him in the naming of creatures. God cared that the man was alone and created the woman. Male and female, created in God’s image, we fulfill God’s purpose in the world by caring for and ruling over creation. At the start of a new year, we align ourselves with the One who made us. What work does he have for us to do? With whom will we share life? How are we caring for the world and people God created? Any questions? Ask God. He talks.
