What's New In Genesis Two

Continuing on with a look at Genesis, today I find myself in.....are you ready? Chapter two! Ta Da!

Chapter two is kind of a rehash of chapter one, except we get a more detailed account of the creation of mankind. Kind of an up close and personal look at how God brought about this wonderful image of himself through the creation of humanity. Have you ever really stop to consider that you are an image bearer of God? Whoa....that's heavy for an early Sunday morning.

One of the things I love about chapter two is found in the first verse.

"Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them (stars, black holes..you know all that cosmos stuff) were finished."

When God does something, it is a completed work. He doesn't need to evolve anything. He doesn't have to redo or rebuild...it is a finished work. In fact, if I'm not mistaken I think maybe Jesus used similar words on the cross shortly before he died...."It is finished!". That is why I can boast that my salvation is a finished work. I can add nothing to it. Now don't get me wrong...I'm a work in progress as God  works in me to change my character as I grow in Him, but the salvation is complete.

If you read on, you'll see where God took a break. Actually it says that God finished the work which He had done and rested on the seventh day. I don't doubt it. All that creatin' stuff and flinging it to the far side of the galaxy has got to take a toll on a body. Not if you're God. In fact, it was more about the seventh day, the Sabbath, than it was about anything else. Did you know that God blessed that day...the Sabbath. God set that day aside for rest.  By Him blessing a day of inactivity the seventh day, God showed that He was satisfied with the work He had done. The other weird thing about all of this is that God actually blesses our week with a day off. If you think about it, our calendars all begin the new week with Sunday, not Monday. I think it's pretty cool that God would give us the last day of the week off...Saturday....the then turn around and bless the first day of the week, Monday. You go God!

if you continue on in Genesis 2, you'll get a look at the weather patterns, or lack of them as it had not rained on planet earth yet. I think that comes later in Genesis 7..you know the whole flood thing. But it does, in verse 6, tell us that a mist use to rise up from the ground and water the "whole face of the ground."  Here again we see the completeness of God's work...the "Whole" face of the ground. Also, it's kind of funny that the word "Face" would be used when talking about the ground. We came from that dirt and dust and yet God used a human facial feature to describe the earth. (Just for the record we also saw the term "fact" back in Genesis 1 where the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.)

Next comes, what is to me, one of the greatest images ever written.....verse 7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul."

God formed.
God didn't speak us into creation. God formed. God shaped and molded. God was up close and personal in this portion of creation as He got down on His knees in the dirt, filled his hands with dirt and became to form it. I think the Bible uses the term "Dust" instead of dirt. When I think of dust, I think back to my growing up years and how we use to ride our bikes on the back roads of our community. The roads were unpaved, and by this time of the year they would be dusty. It was the kind of yellow, thick, powdery dust that almost reminded you of talcum powder. How could you get that kind of dust to form anything. It would be like trying to use Jello for a doorstop. Ah! Think back. Did the Scripture not say that God watered the face of the ground with a mist? Water + Dust = Mud. We are a people of mud. But mud that has been laid hold of by the hand of God. Isn't that the way it is today....before we are saved, we are simply a conglomerate of elements and inert material. It takes the Hand of God upon my heart and the water of the Holy Spirit to give me shape and purpose. It takes the breath of God put inside me to bring me to real life. He breathes into me and I awake and become a living soul.

Unlike the rest of creation...God did not simply speak us into the reality of His world. He took time and brought to bear all his love, mercy  and grace to form us and shape us. Then with what is the greatest act of love I have ever seen, God gives of himself by breathing into us the breath of life. Wow! Thank you, Father for life today. For your Son, Jesus and the completed work of the cross.

Forgive me when I become lax and lazy and my mind drifts from considering this wonderful gift that you've give to me.....your breath and your salvation.

In Jesus name......Amen and amen!

See you tomorrow.

God on you....

mb