It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it, the world of Genesis 1 and 2? That world is a world where swarms of living creatures filled the earth and sky and water, where vegetation was fruitful, and where man and woman coexisted free of shame and grief and strife. That world doesn’t seem much like our world at all. After all, in our world, animals face the threat of extinction, droughts destroy our vegetation, and man and woman are caught up in a never-ending battle for power and dominance.
And while with its images of idyllic paradise, Genesis 1 and 2 can be hard to relate to—not to mention downright discouraging when we find ourselves living in what can be described as anything but paradise. If we’re going to understand the covenants, the relational contracts God makes with his people, we must begin by understanding something about the God who initiates them. And for that, there’s no better place to start than at the beginning.
If Genesis 1 teaches us anything, it’s that all that God does is good. He brought light into darkness, and it was good (vv. 3–4). He separated the waters from the land, and it was good (vv. 9–10). He made plants and trees to bear fruit, and it was good (vv. 11–12).God spoke an entire universe into existence, and it was very good indeed (v. 31).
Rather than focusing on a day-by-day retelling of how the world came to be, Genesis 2 draws us into the intimacy of God’s creation of humanity. Here, God forms the man out of the dust of the ground. He breathes life into him. He creates a woman out of the man’s rib and brings her to the man to be his indispensable companion. But what is most significant about this retelling of creation, what should stop us dead in our tracks, is that we see a God who took the time, took the trouble, took the energy to make humanity, not out of some feeling of loneliness or wanting for anything, but out of the overflowing abundance of his love.
We see in Genesis 2 that God acts to bring us into relationship with himself. From the light to the land to the animals to the vegetation, he formed all of creation in order to make a place where we could dwell in relationship with him. He created a world for us, a good world where we could be with him.
While our world may no longer resemble the unspoiled creation of Genesis 1 and 2, we can take comfort in knowing that these two truths—that all that God does is good and that all that God does is to bring us into relationship with himself—are not only true of every covenant God makes with his people but are also true of God himself. And that, we can always count on.
Knowing or remembering that everything God does is good and that it is intended to build my personal relationship with him is like a wave that washes over me and refreshes me when I am parched. It is so easy to get caught up in all of the forces that feel like they are moving against me and not as easy to remember that it is all in God’s hand and God is always GOOD! Knowing He is good and He is in control and He wants to love me frames my days in the best possible way.
Yes Wendy Yes!
I am reminded of the saying in a popular movie… "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good." I have to remind myself of that despite the tragedies in this fallen world. I am so humbled that everything God does in my life is to bring me closer to HIM. I a not deserving. I am a sinner who lets HIM down daily.Yet, he is always there, ready to hear my cry and take my hand for yet another journey. I have to stop, ask the Lord for his wisdom, courage, and guidance as I tend to get ahead of myself at times.
My anser to yesterday’s question about where I feel disconnected was that my faith and spiritual walk feels "small" and I don’t know how to make it feel like a bigger part of my life. Knowing that everything God does is to bring me into relationship with himself gives me the answer to yesterday’s question. If he is reaching out to me in everything he does, to bring me into relationship, then I need to start really reaching back. This is how I grow. This feels like something I’ve known for a while but it’s clicking now.
Knowing that everything God does is good gives me such deep trust in Him. Knowing that He is incapable of creating something bad gives me such a firm foundation of hope to stand on, and it points me to where He is and where He isn’t.
Knowing that everything God does is to bring us into relationship with Him makes me want to pursue different things in life. I want to find and follow what He has created to bring me closer to Him. I don’t want to keep substituting fake, temporal things for His everlasting love.
When hard things come my way, I can trust that God is doing something with it. When God allows hard things to happen to people I love, I can take comfort in the fact that it is because He wants to be closer to them. The God side is less hard for me, as the human side. It’s hard to watch someone I love choose to move away from God because of trauma she has experienced. People leave this world having never chosen God. I’m afraid that will be the story for my sister. Even though He has pursued and wooed her, she will still not choose Him. I trust Him, but not her. That’s the hard part for me.
I know when times are touch I wonder why this is happening but I know god gives us blessing in disguise and that he loves us. We just need to trust god through all things. He is the one in control and we need to be thankful for that.
It took me a while to understand that everything God does is good because of bad experiences in my life. I used to blame God and cry out "Why?" when bad things happened. Since I have grown in my relationship with God over the years, I no longer blame Him because I know he never causes bad things to happen and that he is with us at those times. He wants to comfort us and give us good things. I now just want to do God’s will for my life and I am learning how to listen for his next steps for my life and how I can serve Him and others.
If God made things good, He can and will restore all things!
The older I get the more I can appreciate God’s goodness. People always disappoint me. God’s love never fails. He is good all the time.
It makes me trust him during any trial and storm, regardless of how severe, painful, and hard it might be. It makes me realize that he works ALL things, the ugly, the good, the prideful, the embarrassing, and even my evil acts work for his good. Regardless of anything.