The Whole Earth Is Filled With His Glory!

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isaiah 6:3b NIV

 

Today in the garden I am far away in my thoughts. My thoughts carry me back to the week of creation. I am contemplating what it was like for the earth to be formless, empty, and dark? Only the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. I mean no disrespect as I imagine how it might have been. The God of the universe rolling up his sleeves, rubbing his hands together in excitement, and saying to the Spirit and the Son, “Let’s get started!”

 

Let me say right here I do not know if a day equals a thousand years or twenty-four hours, but I do know – that fact is neither here nor there! What is important is that I believe with all my heart that God is the creator and he is more than able to accomplish all of creation in a New York minute if he chose to do so! I do not have a problem with God’s timeline. More importantly, I believe that the Bible is inspired by God and its content is direct from the lips of God. His Word assures me over and over again of his greatness, his power, his glory, his creativity, his uniqueness, his holiness, and his desire to love his children and give them good gifts. Without a doubt, God created his masterpiece, our world and all that is within that magnificent creation.

 

Day One – God said, “Let there be light.”  Talk about words of action! God spoke light into existence. He then took his Almighty hands and broke apart, separated, the light into two pieces and one part of the light once again became dark. The light he called day and the dark he called night. I guess that moment of inspiration put a smile on his face!

 

Day Two – God said, “I have an idea, let’s make an expanse between the waters to separate the water from the water. I don’t know about you but I have never been able to separate water from water! But God knew just how to do it. He created the expanse and pushed the water under the expanse. He called the expanse sky. And to add to his delight he caused the sky to be an uncountable number of shades of blue and that sky reflected into the clear waters making the water reflect deeper shades of blue. I just love that creative twist!

 

Day Three – “God said, “What about creating some surface areas that are not wet? Perhaps he was already imagining what he would do with the dry surface areas and what he would do with the wet areas. So on that third day he said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appeared and he called it land.” Special note: the land was not wet nor was it muddy! That’s pretty amazing if you ask me. He called the water seas. What a time God must have had creating the boundaries between the land and the seas. Through his spoken words he scooped out basins and bowls to hold the seas and elevated the land around the edges. Furthermore, it worked! But he wasn’t finished.

 

God continued his work on the third day by God saying, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees with seed in it, and let’s make various kinds.” The rooted vegetation began to appear in the form of carrots, celery, onions, turnips, potatoes, parsnips, and so much more. After that, the vegetation with seeds began sprouting up. There were tomatoes, beans, cucumber, okra, squash, and peppers just to mention a few. Then he created the sweet tasting oranges, apples, peaches, plums, grapes, bananas, pineapple, melons, and more verities than I can name. I wonder if God took a moment to taste the fruit of his labor. Then with a wave of his hand the herbs and flowers began to appear. The color and the textures were marvelous! Incredible! Amazing! It was a sight to behold and the aroma from each floral creation was still waiting for Adam and Eve’s nostrils to breathe in the sensuous fragrance. I love that after each creation God stepped back, looked at the results, smiled, and gave himself a pat on the back and said to the Spirit and the Son, “this is good! We did an awesome job!” Then I imagined that they brainstormed and planned what this Holy Trinity would do next.

 

Day Four – God imagined lights in the expanse of the sky. The purpose was to separate the day from the night and they were to serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years. The lights were also to give light to the earth. So God created two great lights. The sun was the greater light to govern the day and the moon was the lesser light to govern the night. What order, what organization, what planning for what was yet to come! But a creative soul is never finished. I can imagine that just as God was about to wrap it up for the day, he scratched his head and with a twinkle in his eyes he said, I’ve got it! He dug deep into the pockets of his unfathomable resources and pulled out stars by the hands full and cast them into the sky! Believe it our not, they did not fall. Not a chance. As he hung each star in the sky, he looked at it and said only one thing remains, they need to twinkle! And he looked and saw that it was good.

 

Day Five – God created the great and small living creatures of the seas and the birds to fly across the sky. What an ingenious touch! We see this displayed in the color, the size, the texture, the uniqueness of each species. Where does this inspiration come from? Oh I remember, this inspiration comes from none other than a God who is infinitely more than our finite minds can begin to imagine. Therefore, because we can’t imagine it or create it our self, there are those who want to stamp out and shut down this amazing wonder. Humans create lies proclaiming that our world evolved or imagine that it banged into existence. What was the last big bang you experienced? I would guess it didn’t have any signs of order or beauty and was completely void of purpose.  But our holy God is Almighty and the whole earth is full of his glory! In addition the great “I Am” had the foresight to say be fruitful and multiply. So life still continues and will continue to exist on into eternity. Because of sin, the old will pass away but the new will be even more beautiful and amazing.

 

Day Six – I imagine that this day begins by God, his Son, and the Spirit enthusiastically walking the surface of the earth, filling the air with their presence, and agreeing to continue creating. This is the last day of creation so what will the grand finale be? God’s Word says, on the last day the land produced living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. Not one class of animals but three types each with hundreds of species within its kind! It only takes one visit to the zoo for one to be inspired by the creative hand of God. As you watch and study each animal you begin to appreciate and celebrate the differences that are found in the animal kingdom. All created with a specific purpose.

 

Then the grand finale of creation! God said “Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over all creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over it. God gave his earth to mankind. It is mind boggling to realize that it is our soul that has been created in the very image of our maker!

 

This morning I am imagining the fingers of God moving all about the earth during those six days of creation. I’m sure he smiled and felt pleasure as he created. Perhaps his eyes sparked and he clapped his hands in delight as his fingers would carve out a mountain range, or as he would pile rocks of all shapes and sizes on top of one another. What wonderful joy he must have experienced as his finger tunneled out caves and his hands scooped out valleys. Such elation as he created woodlands, and the plains. What pleasure he must have felt as he arranged for the streams to flow into rivers and the rivers to flow into the oceans. Then the Master created sandy beaches and the painted deserts, the rain forests, waterfalls, lakes, farmland, and rice paddies. He placed deep with the earth minerals and diamonds, precious stones, and natural resources. What about the universe beyond the earth? The planets, each one created with purpose and hung in place by God's design. What about the creation of gravity and oxygen? The body of man alone is a masterpiece. Sometime the outside is not much to look at, but oh the inside is a miracle! The brain alone is still an amazing unsolved mystery to mankind. In addition, the perfect order and beauty of each season is a vision of delight. It is the glorious Creator shouting to mankind, “Look, see, and feast your eyes on all that I have made. I am real and I love you! Come to me.”

 

Day Seven – On the seventh day God rested.

 

Our creator is back at work because he is not finished with us yet. He continues to change those who love him. We are a work of creation that is still in progress and one day we shall be like him! What a day that will be when we step into heaven. The creation that we are now privileged to experience is just a foretaste of what still lies ahead.  “…as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” I Corinthians 2:9 NIV

 

Questions:

1. Do you believe that our world was created by the Almighty God?
2. Which day of creation do you find to be the most amazing?
3. Do you see God’s hand of order as one day of creation built on the next day with all five days leading to the grand finale of man’s creation on the sixth day?
4. Have you delighted in imagining God’s pleasure as he created our world?
5. Do you wonder what amazing things God is preparing for us in the future?

Prayer:

Dearest Heavenly Father,

 

You are the Almighty God of creation. The whole earth is filled with your glory! I know beyond a shadow of doubt that all things were made by you. I praise you for your breathtaking works of creation. I praise you for the order and the beauty of all the seasons. I see your twinkling eyes of love in the twinkling starry sky. I praise you because  I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Thank you for your beautiful gift of creation that tugs at my heartstrings calling me to come close to you. At times Father, you seem so far away, but it only takes one look at a sunrise or a sunset for me to feel your love and know that you are faithful. Thank you for such a beautiful world to live in. Thank you for the new heaven and earth that is yet to come. I can only try to imagine!

 

With a heart of gratitude and in your Son’s name I pray, Amen.