The Creator of All That Is
These familiar opening words of the Bible proclaim the most amazing of God’s many powers. He is the Creator of all that exists. And he created it out of nothing.
I find that truth difficult to comprehend.
My own life is full of incomplete tasks that are evidence of my inability to understand simple instructions, much less comprehend the magnificence of a God who made everything without instructions, raw materials, or others to help him.
As a young wife and mother, I decided to learn to sew.
My mother had been a wonderful seamstress, but I had been interested in more active endeavors and was seldom inside watching her craft the dresses and suits I loved wearing.
Her creations were touched with imaginative details and made from the most stylish linens and silks of the day.
When I walked into the fabric store I was hopeful that attempting much more simple styles would promise success, even to a novice like me.
The saleslady was helpful and assured me that with easy patterns I would be able to make darling dresses for my two little girls.
An hour later I left the store with all the supplies I needed and headed home to dust off the sewing machine that I had inherited from my mother.
It didn’t take long for frustration to set in.
Confusing instructions filled the flimsy pattern paper: “Cut on the bias,” “Gather the sleeve,” and “Match the notches on facings.” I did complete those early projects but the results were less than stellar.
Fortunately, there are other complex tasks I can comprehend and perform. And millions of people in our world have achieved greatness in their abilities to accomplish innumerable feats.
Man-made inventions and human discoveries reveal the wonders of the mind and spill into our lives at a pace that’s dizzying.
Even so, none of them even begin to compare with what God has done, and we all can see our own limitations when measured against his handiwork.
We stand in awe of the complexity of the world in which we live and believe the truth of Genesis 1:1.
But not everyone believes as we believe. Numerous explanations appear in textbooks and claim superiority over the assertion that a power we know as God called life into being.
Finite and rational minds grapple with the complexities of the world around them and seek ways to explain definitively how our world began.
But we who believe him and the biblical account of creation marvel at the power and majesty of our Creator.
Our acceptance doesn’t diminish the wonder of God’s work but leaves room for its mystery.
Father, we worship you with amazement as we bask in the beauty of your creation. Thank you for all you have done.