¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² 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.

    ³ And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

    ⁶ And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

    ⁹ And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:1-10 - read the rest of Genesis 1 when you get a chance - it's online here

What is this about?
The bible begins with a description of God as a worker. Before we look for meaning in this passage, please take a few minutes to read it slowly and take in the details – picture the steps, the organisation, the leadership, the order and the grand, amazing scope of God’s finished product. Please take this in now, in praise and adoration of God, before reading these notes any further.

We’re not going to argue about whether creation was accomplished in a week or a long period of time represented by “days”. Nor will we find it fruitful to debate whether God placed things into being fully formed or set into motion an incredible chain of cause and effect which made life step by step from the building blocks of his universe. However it happened, the work is awesome and the message of Genesis is that in the beginning, God worked.

Work is something God chooses to do. Nothing in this chapter suggests that God finds work to be a chore, a necessary evil, or a way of living for the weekend. God worked, and saw that it was good.

God is not like us. We don’t get to make universes, and that’s probably a good thing because God is perfect and we’re not. However, the awesome account of God’s work still contains recognisable descriptions of behaviour we look for in our own work.

• Making things – God works like a skilled craftsman and a disciplined factory worker
• Categorising things – God works like a careful librarian and an observant scientist
• Planning and ordering things – God works like a purposeful foreman and a capable manager
• Designing and separating functions – God works like a clever engineer and a visionary director
• Checking the quality constantly – God works like a diligent supervisor and a passionate artist

God’s work reflects who he is, and we are part of this work. As we are made in God’s image, we have inherited God’s desire to work well and take pleasure from our work. Notice the number of times “God saw that it was good” in Genesis. This is God’s design intention for us – to work and see that it is good.

There is a reason why work doesn’t always seem good to us, but we’ll consider that tomorrow.

To consider and pray throughout today

• What am I seeing today that I recognise as God’s handiwork?
• What is my response when I see something God has made?
• How does my skill and care in my work today measure up?
• What have I done today which people will look at and see that it is good?