Remembering God’s Provision || Deeper Creation || Week 4

Welcome back! This series is “Deeper Creation,” and we’re taking a deeper look at Genesis 1 and 2 to see how the Creation story gets told throughout the Bible!

Last week, we looked deeper at Day 2 of the creation story. We discussed what the space between represented to the Israelites and how we can understand it today. We also saw how the Bible shows us connections between the different days of creation, giving us a glimpse into God’s creation process.

This week, we look at Day 3 of the creation story, a doubly-good day. We see God name two things good: the creation of the land and seas and the land producing trees and plants with seeds. We will examine the importance of creating land and seas and how believers forget that. Then we’ll look at the fact that created everlasting production of life.

Let’s begin our discussion by reading the Day 3 creation process in Genesis 1:9-13: 

9  Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.

10  God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 

11  Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation – every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and tree which they came.” And that is what happened. 

12  The land produced vegetation – all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruits. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 

13  And evening passed and morning came, making it the third day.

Forgetting God’s Powers

Two stories connect with the idea of God separating the waters so the land could appear: one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. Let’s begin with the story of Jeremiah 5. 

Jeremiah was a prophet who wanted to encourage God’s people to turn from their sins and go back to God. Jeremiah 5 is all about the sins of Judah and a warning for them from God. 

The people of Judah were dishonest and refused to repent. The leaders of Judah went power crazy, doing what was right in their own eyes instead of following God’s plan. The people committed adultery, solicited prostitutes, and indulged in their wealth. They were evil in God’s eyes. With all this, God warned them about an incoming invasion and capture. So God warns them and reminds them of this in Jeremiah 5:22

22  Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross.

Why is this prevalent in Judah’s situation? It’s about remembering what their attitude is when it comes to God. These people don’t care about the work God calls them to do or who God calls them in general. They will do what they want, when and how they want to do it. That’s not what God wants to see. 

As believers, our responses should be fearful and trembling. Don’t take that the wrong way. In my “Anxiety in Anxious Times Revisited” series, I discussed that fearing God and respecting God are the same. The fear and trembling are an awe and respectful mindset. We’re supposed to remember that the God we serve can do BIG things, and these big things can be scary, and they can be a blessing. We must remember that God sets the boundaries of the ocean and provides the rain. Again, you’re probably asking, “So, how does this matter to Judah and me?”

God took away all those benefits that Judah and Israel expected from God and gave his people another opportunity to return to him. God didn’t do this out of anger but intense, passion-filled frustration. I know it sounds semantical, but hear me out. 

Sometimes we have to lose something to realize how much we cherish it. We must go without something to recognize how much our lives depend on it. The Israelites got used to God’s provision so much that they weren’t cherishing and giving thanks. They got complacent and grew accustomed to it, so God took it away, thinking they would repent from their worldly ways and return to the divine plan. 

What are we to take from this? Don’t forget to share our thanks and gratitude to God for what he provides. We can lose things in a moment and only recognize the impact of it after. A thank-filled and grateful mindset can help ensure that we nourish what we care for properly and keep our vision set on what matters. 

Let’s hear the New Testament version of this in 2 Peter. Peter’s purpose in this letter was to warn Christians about false teachers and to encourage them to grow in their faith and knowledge of Jesus. 

Peter encourages his audience to grow in their faith (1:3-11) and pay attention to scripture (1:12-21.) Peter then shares his warnings about false teachers in 2 Peter 2, focusing on immorality, greed, and lying. Then Peter moves to share a hope-filled mindset about Jesus’s return to earth in 2 Peter 3, which leads to our next verse. It’s 2 Peter 3:5

5  They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 

Peter talks about how those that don’t believe in the “last days” mindset come making fun of Christians and doing what they want. They’ll forget everything that God did with the creation and the flood. They’ll forget that a time will come when God will judge everyone. 

We see a lack of remembering and cherishing what the past has taught us and led us towards. Everyone will do what is right for themselves, but God encourages us to do what is right in his eyes. 

So what does this mean for us? Remember and cherish how we got here. God used many imperfect people to get us to where we are today. Let us take the time to understand what God calls us to do. May we understand the purpose and promise that God shares with us in creation, through Jesus, and throughout the world.

Everlasting Life

I want to switch gears now and talk about a topic that’s interesting to me. The second half of Day 3 shows God created plants and trees with seeds to reproduce. We’re seeing everlasting life and provision created here. Check out a more detailed version of this in Genesis 2:9:

9  The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground – trees that were beautiful and produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil.

The trees were plenty, each filled with fruit for the living creatures to eat. The two main trees in the center of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowing good and evil. God let them eat from any tree aside from the tree of knowing good and evil.

I want you to walk away with an understanding that Adam and Eve had plenty of choices, yet they still were tempted to eat from the one tree that God said not to. The snake spoke the words carefully enough to get Eve to bite into the fruit and convinced Adam to do the same. Free will is shown here, and not in a positive way. 

How often do we get paralyzed by choice? How often are we so overwhelmed by the options that lie before us that we do nothing or react by doing something on impulse? God provided all these trees to help them not worry; instead, they worried more. God provides a lot to help us not worry; instead, we worry more. The power of choice is also the power of our anxiety more times than not. 

God created things for good. Therefore, indecision often shows us the battle between whether we are honoring God or honoring ourselves. While the two aren’t always synonymous, that battle still exists. Learning who God is and why God did what he did can clarify how we move forward. How can we apply this? Let’s look at the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 6:30:

30  And if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

God created something we view as superficial, meaningless, and sometimes ugly with beauty. If God did that for something easily destroyed, what would he do for us? Why do we trust that God wouldn’t provide for us but would for something like that? Why do bad things happen to good people? Questions like this can create a negative self-image and a comparison issue between blessings. 

It borders on understanding God’s will for humanity vs. the world acting out. There’s a view of all-or-nothingness that comes with following God that gets exacerbated occasionally. We see others’ success, get down on ourselves for not being at their level, and then get mad at God for not getting us to that level. How do we get out of this? Stop having little faith.

What Jesus asks in verse 30 is why his audience chooses not to walk intimately with God (that’s what this verse says in the original Greek.) Why do we choose not to sit and reflect deeper with God on our circumstances and instead lash out when we can’t get the new shoes we want? God works in all things, good and bad. I didn’t say he causes them, but he works through them. Some might be his result, but some result from human action. 

I’m working through some financial issues, and oddly enough, I’m not panicking or ruminating on the worry, fear, self-criticism, or anything that could tear me down. Instead, I’m leaning on my faith that God will either provide in a way that solves my issue or teaches me the lesson I need to hear to ensure I won’t put myself in that position again. God didn’t cause my financial issues. I did. God didn’t cause my situation. I did. It’s up to me to do the work to get out of it, but I will do it God’s way, for he provides. 

That’s a good stopping point for today. We looked at the 3rd day of creation and how it’s important to remember the crucial impact of what life means when God separated the waters to create land and seas. We also discussed the everlasting production of provision that God installed through the plants and trees and how the choice to eat from which tree can be overwhelming at times. 

Next week, we look at the 4th day, which includes the sun, moon, and stars. Until then, stay blessed!