The more I ‘grow’ in my faith and intimacy with God the more I seem to be reminded of my need to reflect upon the most seemingly simple truths.
The first of these simple truths is found in the very first words of the entire Bible.
“In the beginning, God created..”
I think it could be argued that these are actually 5 of the most challenging words in all of Scripture because of all that they mean.
If GOD is the One Who Created, then that means I am the creation.
If GOD is the One Who Created, then that means He is in control, not me.
If GOD is the One Who Created, then that means He knows all things, not me.
If GOD is the One Who Created, then that means He determines my purpose, not me.
If GOD is the One Who Created, then that means this is His story, not mine.
Put simply, if God is God, then I am not.
But since the very beginning of creation, we have naturally resisted this picture. Our defiance of God’s governance is how sin entered the world. We insist on a different picture. One in which we call the shots, and we decide what is best. Surely, we as the creation must know ourselves better than our Creator. Similar to a clay pot challenging its potter on how it should be molded, we refuse to believe our Creator knows best.
Paul addresses this inclination of ours directly in Romans 9:20, “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”
Not only is God above us, He is high above us. There is not just a small difference between God and creation.
Andrew Wilson explains in his book Incomparable: Explorations in the Character of God, “The difference between God’s being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle, more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, more than the difference between the arctic ice cap and a snow flake, more than the difference between the universe and the room we are sitting in: God’s being is qualitatively different. No limitation or imperfection in creation should be projected on to our thought of God. He is the creator; all else is creaturely. All else can pass away in an instant; he necessarily exists forever.”
Thankfully we learn later that this Creator, God, decided to make us in His image.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
- Genesis 1:27
So yes we are still below God, but we are made in the image of God and are given dominion over everything else God created. Additionally, God even created many things for our pleasure, including the beauty of His creation, and relationships with fellow humans.
Above all else though, God created us to enjoy Him. Since God is our Creator, He knows best what will most satisfy His creation. It has been said, “God is not some cosmic killjoy, He just knows the things that will most kill our joy.” As Creator, God designed exactly how His creation would flourish. He even revealed this knowledge to us in the Bible. And while different in design, all humans were created by God to have equal value.
God’s world under God’s governance is a beautiful picture. A perfect picture in fact.
“Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!”
- Genesis 1:31a
Let us strive to live a life that is set on God’s terms, not our own.
Let us live in constant remembrance of this simple truth:
God is God, we are not.
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