The Vault of Water

Genesis 1:6-8

God spoke again for a vault to separate the waters - above and below.

We always went up to the Superior National Forest for our family vacations.  We would head up I35 and crest the hill that overlooked Lake Superior.  I would love to see the place where the water meets the sky and often couldn't tell the difference between them.  I thought that this passage was a poetic way of saying God made the sky which reflects the water.

In college, I learned a different theory.  That some believe there was a layer of water vapor or canopy around the earth, and that's what God was separating.  It was sort of a protecting layer, and would have been like a giant terrarium.  There would have been no rain since there were mists and fountains from the earth.  This is an interesting theory, and it makes sense later when Noah's Ark happens - the first rain, if you will.  And no wonder a rainbow was a symbol, since there wouldn't have been a rainbow before then without rain.

Whatever the real story, God created the atmosphere on earth for his creation to thrive.  And the earth orbited the sun and day 2 passed.

In summary, God:

• Uses the power of his voice to separate water
• Everything that He creates, He names - even the sky

The First Day

Genesis 1:5

God named what he created - day for the light, night for the dark.  He values names and words and a pattern to life.  I wonder if this is the point where time was created; when night turned to morning and the first day happened.  God, who is outside of time, created a place where time would pass continually from day to night until He said otherwise.

At the end of the verse, it says that this was the first day.  I wonder about that, because it could have been a very long first day, or very short.  Or could it have been a long day, if there was no time yet?  When did the first day start?  Perhaps it doesn't matter, as we aren't told much more than this.  There is a little more unpacking of this story a little later but I don't know if it answers all my questions.

It is curious that a day means the passing of light to dark and to light again.  Could you have created time without the passage of the revolution of planets and suns and their corresponding orbits?  It all seems like a complicated clockwork where the gears are set in place and - sproing - there go the planets and stars in their orbits.

In summary, God:

• Gives names to His creation
• Created a place where time will continue to pass
• Made 2 unique parts of a day

Comfort

I'm off track a little today, I also am reading the NT during breakfast time, so I can be in different parts of scripture.  Anyway, I was reading in Corinthians and realized something about the word "comfort."  I did a look up on biblegateway.com as well.

Comfort is always given by God, something from God or another person.

When someone tries to find comfort somewhere else, he/she doesn't find it.  Such as Job trying to find comfort in his bed.

There is no comfort given for those whose acts are wrong, unless they repent.

Comfort can be refused.

Comfort from wrong and deceitful sources is false.

Over and over, comfort is given to those who are in distress or have been recently repented and are forgiven for a wrong.  Often times comfort is seen as a "female" act, such as a mother comforting a child. There's probably a bit more to study about this one word, but these are some quick observations over morning coffee.

God saw

Genesis 1:3-4

God can speak.  I don't know what language He spoke, that doesn't seem important here.  What is important is that He spoke and light appeared.  I wonder if he blinked hard when the light first appeared and had to adjust his eyes?  From constant eternal darkness, to sudden light.  Darkness was still there, as we know from verse 4.  Interesting to note, verse 1 does not say how God created the heavens and the earth.  But here, we know that He used his voice.  Or...is it a voice that He speaks with?

Another thing to get here is that there is power in His words.  Power to create with a voice - to create something that didn't exist before.  I have heard some pretty good singers over the years, who could evoke feelings and emotions with their voice.  And I have seen people able to shatter glass at a certain vibration of singing.  But have never heard of someone creating something with their voice.

In verse 4, we see that God saw.  Could he see before the light?  Does He have eyes like us, or something else to see by?  In any case, He saw now that there was light.  And He thought the light was good.  It doesn't say that He was happy or sad about it, just that he saw the light as good.  God gave light an adjective.

A quick look up to online dictionaries describes the word "good" with these words:
favorable, bountiful, fertile, attractive, suitable, advantageous, agreeable, pleasant, full, honorable, true, satisfactory, commendable, right, etc.

Could God have seen all of these things in light and more?  Because it is favorable and pleasant to have light. It's also fertile because it helps things to grow.  Light is attractive and satisfactory to be in and a very true part of our lives.

And then God separated the light from the darkness.  Which implies that they were not separate before.  I don't know how God separated them either.  It doesn't say that He said anything, just that He did it.

In summary, God:

• can speak and use His speech to create
• can see in the light
• can review His work and describe it
• can sort things into His own order

Genesis 1:2

A Needle Felted Bird made by Me

Apparently, God could make blank planets - without form and with nothing on them.  It was that was with what we call, Earth.  I am imagining earth as a sphere as it is now, covered over with water.  Water seems pretty important to God and He makes it important to people since 60% of us is water.  We know that now, 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.  So it would seem that water is something that God likes to use to create with.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep.  The "deep" most likely references "the sea" as it does in other places.  Of course it was dark, there was no light created yet.  That means that God can see in the dark and do some amazing creating in the process.  He doesn't need light, yet later Jesus becomes a symbol of light.  Very curious.

And now we see that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.  There are only three times in the NIV that the word "hover" is used, the other two symbolize a protecting bird that also rescues.  If I think of God, as a protective mother bird, tending to His eggs about to hatch, that really sheds new light on this verse for me.

In summary, God:

• is one who can make not only a blank planet, but a pregnant one about to hatch
• likes to use water to make things with
• Doesn't need light 
• is like a mother bird, caring for her nest  

Genesis 1:1

So, there was a beginning.  A beginning to what?  To time, to the universe, to created life.  And before that beginning, God was already there.

When I was a child, I used to try to think hard about a time before time.  I'd close my eyes and put my fists to them until I could see "stars" and imagine that was before time began.  The knowledge was always beyond my reach but maybe if I tried harder, it would come to me.

There was no time before time was created.  That still boggles my mind.  How do you mark your days and years?  Or know when you have your dentist appointment?  There would be no clocks or calendars and London would be without Big Ben.

And if there was no time, how was God there?  Wasn't He started at some time, did He have a birthday?  We know that He had a Son - Jesus.  Did Jesus have a starting day?  I still don't understand how someone can exist outside of time.

I heard an illustration once that helped me with this.  Imagine a ruler, and that ruler is the timeline from creation to the end of the earth.  Someone from outside of that time can see the whole of time and come in and out at several points.

Another illustration was something I did when I taught Sunday school.  We made a 3-d platform and then put a 1 dimensional person on it.  What can the 1 dimensional girl understand about the 3 dimensional platform?  If she can only see one side of it, and only explore it as a 1 dimensional person, she will never really understand it fully.

So God, who is fully dimensional, made the heavens and the earth.  I am a 3 dimensional girl, limited in what I can see and understand.  But perhaps I don't need to understand things fully.  Because God will tell me what I need to know and to leave the rest to Him.

What it's all about

I have many times been struck with the realization that God reveals Himself to us not all at once but little by little.  And our relationship with Him also is a process, a micro evolution if you will.  So I wondered - how has God revealed Himself to mankind since creation?

For many years I've wanted to go through the Bible chronologically and see how God has revealed Himself through time.  However, I am by no means a Bible scholar or theologian.  I put it off until someday.  Yet this curiosity has not gone away.  It pops up now and then and I would gently lay it aside until later, when I had more time or knew more about the Bible.

But when will I ever have the time or knowledge that I think I need to do this?  If God has given me this desire through the years, then perhaps I should listen.  And perhaps He wants me to undertake this as I am, not as I wish I would be.


I am using the NIV Once-A-Day Bible: Chronological Edition via my kindle.  I do understand that even though this is compiled in a chronological order, it wasn't written all in that order.  Most likely I won't read the whole section for the day.  Some days it may be just be a verse or a paragraph, depending on what is in there to think about.  There is no hurry to be done.  What is most important is to see the Bible with new eyes and try to get to know God a little more.