Hold Fast (Genesis 2:24)

 


Wednesday, January 15, 205


Psalm 37:1-17

Genesis 2:4-25

John 6:60-71


Hold Fast (Genesis 2:24)


Chapter One of Genesis was all about the scientific specifics: this happened on that day, and so on. Chapter Two is much more romantically presented, as it should – because it ends with a wedding!


If the first chapter sated our desire for bare facts, then the second presents the drama of creation. The way in which it speaks about God, and the world he has just made as a misty plain of earth and water, and how he carefully “forms” Adam in the same way a master craftsman works at his trade is on the level of fairy-tale. There is an enchanted garden – a place for Adam to live in and look after. Then a parade of animals, and finally the decision that Adam needs to have company. The universe has exploded with light, stars, planets, birds, fish, animals and plants, and a man has been placed on top as the crown jewel. But it is “not good” until he has company.


There is a temptation to look at these two creation narratives and try and discard them for any number of reasons. They made perfect sense the first time we read them, but then we got older, and more boring, and we sinned more, and these narratives started to confuse us. But hold fast to the truth of scripture; hold fast to your true love; hold fast to the fact that we do live in an enchanted fairy-tale universe, of a God who speaks, and animals, and fish, and mist, and a man and a woman made out of the dust. The Genesis account of creation is God’s gift to us, so that we know where we have come from, so that we know where we are going. The atheists are boring, and their universe is big and empty. The Christians are exciting, and our universe is cozy and full of surprising joy.


How do you perceive the universe around you? Does God’s creation thrill you with wonder? If not, how did you lose that wonder, and how might you reclaim it?


God of wonder and delight: free me from sin and fear so that I may see your world as it truly is, and live as your master craftswork, to your glory.

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