Read with Me
Genesis 1:28-31 (HCSB)
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
Listen with Me
Day six was not yet over. After God created mankind male and female in his own image and likeness, He blessed them to be able to reproduce and fill the earth. Then He commissioned them to rule over the earth and over all the creatures on it as God’s regents, His representatives. They were not simply to live and reproduce like the animals. They had a God-given purpose that was greater than themselves.
God also stated very clearly that plants, not meat, would be food for all living creatures. This was true not only for people, but for animals as well. Some people reject this idea out of hand based on the fact that many creatures today are carnivores, whether predators or scavengers.
But at the beginning, it was not so. Many “meat eaters” can and do eat plant materials in addition to the meat they consume. And when Isaiah was given a vision of a restored creation, it was no coincidence that one of the depictions was that “The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 11:7) This is not idealism or fantasy, but a restoration to the way that God created things to be in the beginning.
Several times during the process of creation God had evaluated what He had made as “good”, exactly corresponding to what He had originally conceived. And now that the work of creation was completed, He took in the whole created order, the life-filled earth as well as the vast expanses of space, and He declared them all to be “very good”. All the parts worked together perfectly. There was no death, no decay, no sin. The first human couple was equipped to live forever, having been made with perfectly formed, perfectly healthy bodies and keen minds and intellects. And they had been equipped to live in God’s presence forever.
And thus, with the end of the sixth day, God’s creative operations ceased, at least for the next 24 hours.
Pray with Me
Father, the simplicity with which You communicated Your creative process is breathtaking. Even though all You created, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the most massive galaxy, are all complex beyond words, they all came from You, just as You had designed them to be. And even though we know the tragedy that was waiting in the wings and that would horribly mar Your very good creation, it is glorious to just take a breath at the end of the sixth day, just as You did Yourself, and simply marvel at the perfect beauty of all You made. Thak You, Lord! Amen.