“Tell me a story!” a young child asks. You get a pile of books and you read one or another classics to them. A good story draws you in and makes you a part of the action. When we think of stories, we often assume they are fiction. Yet some of the best stories are true. Great newspaper reporters call their articles, “stories” that are not only gripping but true.
In most cultures, the most told stories tell you how the world was made, what went wrong with it and what will happen to make it better. These are called “salvation histories.” The Bible is a salvation history and today’s lesson starts at the very beginning. How did God make the world?
There are two stories about creation in the beginning of Bible. The first one is an overview of how God made the world and everything in it. The second one tells the story of how God made Adam and Eve.
The first story has a rhythm to it. It begins when there was nothing at all but God. When God speaks, it happens. The world was made because when he spoke, something was made. Every day of creation, we hear that “God said let… and it was so” and “God saw that it was good.” Every day ends: “evening and morning was the ___ day.” God made everything in a very orderly fashion. First He made the land, sea and sky. Then He filled it with living creatures. On the sixth day, He made men and women in His own image. When God had finished creation, He called it very good.
The world is far from very good today. The sin of Adam and Eve brought sin, suffering, grief and death into the world. Yet the beauty and wonder of creation is still there. One day Jesus will return and take away this curse once and for all. Then we all will see the work God has done and say with Him, it is very good.
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