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

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