in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
the earth and the sky were absolutely formless and void.
void - empty and vacant, empty space, emptiness
empty - containing nothing, without an occupant, without effectiveness
so the world was totally empty. inhabitable. and the glorious God we know today breathed life and the world was made!
he took nothing and made such intricate beauty. my mind cannot comprehend.
now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
the holy spirit! the same spirit that lives in us hovered over the unfinished creation. His presence was there to preserve what was there and prepare what was to come. which i would say is exactly what he does inside us as well.
God the Creator Elohim
the God who sees El Roi
it seems that as i learn, God is always thinking of us. when he created the heavens and the earth, he had us in mind. He did it for us. we are central to His reasoning for everything and we mean everything to Him.
when God created us, he didn't say 'let there be man', which would have gone along with everything else He created. no, he was more tender, more personal. he said, let us make man in our own image. in the image of God He created them. male and female He created them.
and we weren't just made. we were made in His image. He said let us make man. the plurality of the Trinity, the plurality of man as male and female. relationship.
Thank you Lord, that though we've fallen, You make a way for redemption.
When man fell, it let a host of evil loose on the earth. I should say, it pained the earth. It took it from it's original state.
The serpent came to the woman and told her that if she ate the fruit, she would not surely die - but she would be like God, knowing good and evil.
If we remember back when God created man, He created us in His image. male and female He created us.
So, why does eve fall for that?? why doesn't she see that what the serpent is promising her is only counterfeit for what God has already provided??
this is the human story, isn't it? all throughout the bible and up to this day. We seek love, acceptance, approval, beauty, challenge, etc., all things the Lord has freely given to us already. when eve trusted the serpents way of being like God, we know that sin and folly was brought upon the earth.
When we listen to 'the serpent' - our flesh, the world, the enemy of our souls - in order to receive our hearts desires, we do the same. we bring folly, confusion, fear, more unfulfilled longing, unfulfilled destiny.
this sin not only brought folly to the earth and separation from God's presence, but it lodged a wedge between adam and eve. man and woman.
and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
adam and eve were ashamed. not just inwardly, but in their relationship with each other as well as their relationship with God.
their new knowledge was that of their own nakedness. their knowledge of 'good and evil' that was to make them 'like god' resulted in the knowledge that they were no longer even like each other. they were ashamed of their nakedness and they sewed fig leaves together to hide from each other. they sought wisdom, but only found vanity and toil.
maybe that is why men are from mars and women are from venus, or whatever it is. maybe that is why marriages are failing every day in both the christian and secular community. maybe that is why at times, it is so hard to communicate effectively with the opposite sex.
there is nothing good apart from God. nothing. even a quest that appears good and harmless will not end well apart from God.
adam and eve, in my belief, did not spitefully rebel against God. it seems that it was simply a quest for wisdom and 'the good' apart from God's provision.
even things that seem good must be sought within the range of God's will and provision. the enemy may come in and present us with a better, simpler, most often faster way of doing things - even things appearing holy - and then comes the folly. the enemy would love to push us too quickly into our destiny, so that confusion will come in and delay us from truly reaching it by the path that God intended.
i think of much afraid's journey to the High Places in the book by hannah howard.
