When I read the first chapter of Genesis I am struck by the fact that nearly ever verse begins with "God did..." or "God said...". And I realise that it is simply a declaration that from the beginning of time, whatever exists, is from God! Today it might have been written more like this :-
When as a child I was frightened by the dark, I prayed for help, and found God was already there.
When I went to church and Sunday School, I found God was there.
As I grew up and looked at the world around me, the animals, the plants, the wonderful variety of nature, I found God was there too.
I went to school and then college and studied music and poetry, and this showed me more of God. I studied physics, maths and biology, and found God's handiwork there too.
I travelled abroad and met many people of many races, and God was with them. I spoke to people of other faiths, Muslims and Jews, and God was also with them, and they knew him.
I took up astronomy, and studied the moon and the stars. One day men went to the moon, and as they looked back at the earth they felt nearer than ever to God. And I looked into the depths of space with the biggest and best telescope, searching for the origins of the universe, only to learn more about God.
I looked down a microscope at microbes and cells, I used an electron microscope to look at the very structure of matter, and simply learned even more about God. I studied the structure of DNA and why we are all different, and could only marvel at God's creation.
There will always be things too big for me to comprehend, too small for me to detect and too subtle for me to appreciate, yet the more I learn, the greater and more real God is. Wherever I go, and whatever I discover, God has always been there before me, is there with me, and is still there after I have left.
Now Genesis Chapter 2 is another story...
Author: Geoff Tomlinson