Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1-2, 2:7
The Bible begins by telling us something about God. It’s not a descrip<on of God’s nature or a hymn to God’s glory. Rather, the first thing Scripture reveals about God is his ac<vity: God created the heavens and the earth. Where once there was nothing, now there is something. Indeed, now there is everything. Scripture starts with a bang.
To use more general language, the first thing we learn about God is that he worked. He made something. He exercised his crea<ve, visionary, ordering power. Throughout chapters 1 and 2, we see God engrossed in the shaping of crea<on.
“The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).The nascent crea<on, though s<ll “formless,” has the material dimensions of space (“the deep”) and maTer (“waters”), and God is fully engaged with this materiality (“a wind from God swept over the face of the waters”).Later, in chapter 2, we see God working the dirt of his crea<on. “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7). Work isn’t something added on to the biblical story. It comes right at the start. In the beginning, God worked.
Prayer: Thank you, dear Lord, for graciously revealing yourself to us in Scripture. The first thing you show us about yourself is that you are the God who created all things. You are a God who worked, and who is working s<ll. May you work in and through my life today. Help me to see all of my work this day as an imita<on of your crea<vity. Amen.
For Further Explora>on: Read God Creates the World (Genesis 1:1-2:3) from the Theology of Work Bible Commentary.
Author: Theology of Work Project
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