the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
From nothing, nothing comes (Latin: nihil fit ex nihilo). This is one way we know God with our minds. That there is anything at all points to that being which is sufficient in himself and does not depend on another cause for his being. From chaos this self-sufficient being whom we call God brings forth order. He imposes form on formlessness. He causes the differentiation of this from that. He establishes boundaries of one thing from another. Is this good? Does it not contain within it the possibility of war? On the one hand, yes. But formlessness cannot contain a place to stand, to live, or to rest. Life itself insists on these definite boundaries to form individuals. Boundaries create the conditions not just of aggression but also of love. Darkness is unknown and unknowable. Into darkness God brings light.
These boundaries commit the universe to a certain course. They forego the potential of many different divisions for the actuality of certain ones. And it is good! Mere potential is not enough. Actual creation is the good that God chooses. He not only chooses it he delights in it.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning
When these boundaries grow weak the universe slides back toward chaos. This is possible because of sin. Humans are intended to mediate God's presence to creation. We are meant to be the guardians of creation.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth.
But as Adam and Eve choose to sin they bring creation down with them.
Cursed is the ground because of you!
In toil you shall eat its yield
all the days of your life.
Yet this is not God's plan. Suffering is something which is permitted. But it is not taken lightly. It is not the creators ultimate intention for creation.
You fixed the earth upon its foundation,
not to be moved forever;
He refuses to sit back and watch while his work slides back into the waters of chaos. He refuses to sit back and watch his masterwork, mankind, sliding toward the waters of death and destruction.
The healings of Jesus are the beginning of a new and restored creation.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
And ultimately all of creation will be brought along with us. It is good and God doesn't give up on it.
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (cf. Rom. 8:20-21).
God does not give up on or run from this world. It has a purpose and reveals his glory. It is not random and therefore not without value. It is good. And so we can't run from the difficulties of life here toward a more formless and abstract ideal. We must trust in God's purpose here. We must trust that he continues to work to heal the damage in the beginning. And so we pray:
May the Lord be glad in his works.
No comments:
Post a Comment