It Was Good

Passage: Genesis 1

So much time and energy has been spent debating the “truth” of Genesis 1 that in many respects we’ve lost sight of its truth. Fights about whether the days of Creation are literal 24 hour days; fights about the order in which plant and animal classes were created; fights about when and who and how the first humans came to be miss the point of our Creation story. Genesis 1 was written to establish these truths: our universe came into existence not by chance or through a random sequence of events, but as the handiwork of one all-powerful God; our world was brought together out of chaos as an ordered whole; our race was made in the image of God. And when it was made, it was good. Everything worked the way it was designed to work. Everything existed in harmony – humans and animals; plants and fungi and viruses and bacteria. Land and sea and sky and every element. It was good. We were good.

In order to understand our story we have to start here. Our Creation story reminds us that the way it is now isn’t the way it always was. War. Disease. Hunger. Abuse. Natural disaster. These are symptoms of the brokenness that was introduced after God created Heaven and Earth and called it good. We need to be reminded of the good that was so that we don’t settle for the bad that is. And we need to be told anew that this isn’t the way it’s always going to be. Our story began with the good that God created. And it ends with the new thing that God is doing. When we are frustrated and hurt and worn down we need to remember: it wasn’t meant to be this way. It won’t always be this way. It was good, and it will be good again.