Fully Devoted: Creationਨਮੂਨਾ

God Created Everything

Before there was space, time, matter, molecules, or people, there was God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

The first thing we learn about God is that He created. Saying God created the heavens and the earth is the ancient Hebrew way of saying God created everything. Little by little, one word at a time, the author of Genesis introduces us to God, helping us discover what He’s like.

He existed before there was anything, and He created everything.

What makes the biblical creation story distinct from other ancient creation stories is that since God created the universe, God is not part of the universe. Other ancient creation stories tend to portray the gods as a part of creation, but the Bible introduces us to the God who is over and above His creation—holy and set apart.

The God we’re introduced to exists eternally outside of the confines of space, time, and matter. This is why the question, “If God created everything, then who created God?” is a misunderstanding of the God revealed in Genesis. The God of the Bible is eternal. That means He has no beginning and no ending. He always was and always will be. Nobody created God because God is an uncreated, eternal being who holds all of existence together by the power of His mighty hand.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. Genesis 1:1-2 NIV

Next, we learn that the God of the Bible is a God of order. When Genesis describes the earth as formless and empty, it is describing a world without order. That’s what “formless” means—disordered and chaotic. But the God who created everything out of nothing chose to bring order out of that chaos. Nothing God creates is by accident—all of it is by design.

So when the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, we can find hope in the fact that our Creator is still in charge, and He brings order out of chaos. That includes you. You are not an accident, or a product of random chance, you are the result of divine intention. You are reading this right now—you are here on this earth—because God loves you and wants you to be a part of His creation.

Throughout history, the creation and design of the universe have both been considered strong pieces of evidence that God is real and Christianity is true. Long before scientific observations supported the conclusion that the universe had a beginning, the words of Genesis were being passed down from one generation to the next. And, as science has progressed, experts have discovered more than 100 “physical constants” (things like the strength of gravity, the speed of light, the charge of electrons, etc.) that are fine-tuned for life to exist. Meaning, if they were changed by the slightest degree, life could not exist in the universe.

So, what best explains the origins and the design of the universe? Some will say it’s all a “happy accident”, that it “had to be this way”, or the “multiverse.” But the answer we find much simpler, and far more compelling, is the one the Bible gives: God created the heavens and the earth by bringing something out of nothing and order out of chaos.

And God said ... Genesis 1:3 NIV

The rest of this opening chapter of the Bible walks us through the process of God working to form and fill His creation. It’s through the power of His words as an act of love that God creates—not through conquest and violence, which is very different from the creation stories of most ancient religions. And at the end of this creation account, God looks upon all that He has created and He calls it “very good.”

So, who is God? Well, according to the first page of the Bible, God is the Creator of everything.

Journaling Questions

• Write down one of today’s verses in your journal. How does God’s introduction of Himself as Creator change your view of Him?
• How do you see yourself, knowing that you are a result of divine intention?
• What does “very good” mean to you? What did it mean to God?

Memory Verse

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 NIV