When God began to create[a] the heavens and the earth— the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared. God saw how good the light was. God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light Day and the darkness Night.
There was evening and there was morning: the first day. Genesis 1:1-5 CEB
Genesis 1:1-5 (As told by Christian)
So we start out with a dark, formless, watery blob. There was nothing and no one on the mass we know as earth. But then God’s Spirit shows up, and everything begins to change. God’s first order of business: Light. He simply spoke it into existence. “Let there be light!” He was satisfied with his handiwork, separated light and dark, and named the light “Day” and darkness “Night”. So since we started with darkness and then light came, this accounts for day 1.
I’ve heard this story what seems like a million times, but there are a couple of things that jumped out at me. The biggest one is that somehow God made light without what we now perceive as the agents of light: the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies. Those don’t show up until Day 4! Why does this matter, and what does it mean?
I’m no Bible scholar, but this reminds me that because God is the creator, He makes the rules. In my finite understanding, you need to make the sun to have Light, but that’s not what God did. He made the Light first, and then the sun.
So no matter what order I think things SHOULD go in, God decides what order they WILL go in.
The second thing is that darkness was the beginning of the day, not light. Have you ever seen a sunrise? The transition from total darkness to illumination is rather breathtaking. Seeing light crack through darkness is much more dramatic than watching the sun slowly set.
The fact that the first day technically begins with darkness and transitions to light makes me think God has an appreciation for drama – stark contrast. It also lets me know that the beginning of a thing frequently starts off in the dark, like a seed in the ground. But similar to the beginning of time, just because we don’t see anything happening doesn’t mean God’s Spirit isn’t moving.
Wow. I’m honestly shocked to see all this in 5 verses, especially ones I’ve read and heard my entire life, but I’m glad God showed it to me. I’m going to remind myself when things seem dark that God is still at work, and when everything seems out of order, God sets the order, not me.
What else do you see in Day 1 of the Creation story?
Sloan says
Amen
Twanda B Smith says
Amen!!!!
Thanks Christian for the reminder that no matter what order I think things
Should go … one thing is certain God will decide how things Will go!!!
Vernon Hubbard says
Great observations Christian! I also see in the text that God never starts with nothing! The text does not say the Earth didn’t exist, it was just unformed, meaning undeveloped and uninhabited. God’s Spirt begins to move and then God speaks and what was out of shape came into shape, what was unformed took on form because LIGHT entered the Darkness!
I hear Him saying “Let the LIGHT in and things will begin to come into view.”
Christian says
Amen!
Erica Carmouche says
Thank you for that reminder! It helps me to understand that certain situations can be dark enough to prevent me from seeing my way, but God can never be rendered sightless. He sees me and my situation and He knows what I need.
Phillis Stewart says
Thanks for the reminder that God can bring order from disorder. He can take the darkness we’ve experienced in 2020 and bring light and goodness in our world of lack and transform it to one of increase. Let’s watch Him work!