...did he have to sit down and plan it all out first? (And if he did, where did he sit down? He hadn’t thought up chairs yet!)
Or did He just think it all up at once?
Did God get out a piece of paper and start drawing out ideas - and then scribbling them out when he didn’t like them? Did he try different ideas for things? Like, did God think people might be good with six legs instead of two?
Or, because He is perfect, were all God’s ideas right from the very start?
And how long would it take to think up EVERYTHING in the universe?! Did it take a day? Or a week? Or maybe it took forever. But since forever has no beginning and no end, when he finally said, “That looks good!!” and then created everything, there still was forever left.
Or maybe He thought it all up in an instant!
Something to think about!
One thing is for sure, if it weren’t for God, we wouldn’t be here!
...God created the heavens and the earth.
Before there was anything, there was GOD.
Before there was ice cream and chocolate sauce; or popcorn and pop; or computers, VCRs and TVs; or the sun, the moon and the stars - or even space itself - God was there. There wouldn't be anything at all if God hadn't thought it all up.
But God DID think it all up.
But in the very beginning there was no shape to God's creation at all, and everywhere it was black as night.
So God said,
"Let there be light!"
And there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and so he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "Day," and the darkness he called, "Night." And then for the first time ever, there was evening and there was morning. The first day in all of creation had come to an end and a new day was ready to begin.
On the morning of the second day God put the blue sky between the deep waters that covered the earth and the blackness of space. At first, the earth was completely covered with water. There wasn't any dry ground anywhere.
And there was evening and there was morning. The second day was over, and a new day was ready to begin.
Morning came on the third day, and God gathered the waters together and made the dry land appear. God called the dry land "Earth" and the water he called "Sea."
God looked at all that he had made, and he saw that it was good.
It was all very good.
Then God said, "Let there be plants on the earth, and all the things that grow!" And all the different kinds of plants and trees began to grow; apple trees and banana trees, grass and dandelions and roses, wheat to make bread, and corn so kids would have a vegetable they would like; but God made spinach and broccoli too.
And God looked at all that he had made, and he saw that it was good, even the broccoli and the spinach.
There was evening and there was morning, the third day. A new day was waiting to begin.
On the fourth day God said, "Let the great lights appear in the sky!" (so we would know when to go to bed and when to get up for school). And just by his word, God made the sun and the moon and the stars. He made them out of nothing at all!
And God looked at all that he had made, and he saw that it was good.
There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
On the morning of the fifth day God said, "Let there be swimming things in the oceans and lakes, and birds in the air!" And the oceans were filled with hammerhead sharks and dolphins and whales. And in the sky there were robins and eagles, blue jays, cardinals and yellow bellied sapsuckers. Until then the earth must have been a very quiet place. But not anymore!
And God looked at all that he had made, and it was wonderfully good.
There was evening and there was morning, now the fifth day had come and gone.
Then God said, "Let there be animals upon the earth!" God made giraffes, and zebras, and lions and tigers and bears.
He made moose with great big antlers, and little gophers and chipmunks and squirrels. He made monkeys swinging through the trees and giant gorillas sitting in the forests eating bananas. He made huge elephants, and he made hippopotamuses rolling around in the mud. How did God think of all those things?!
What a great imagination God has!
Then God said, "Let us make people in our own image" (God said, "us" because God the Father was there, and so was Jesus, and so was the Holy Spirit - but still he was just one God). So God made people in his own image.
When you look at yourself in a mirror, you see an image of yourself. You see a reflection of what you are like. God made us in his image.
We are a reflection of what God is like. When God sees us, he sees a reflection of himself.
You are the image of God. Always remember that.
So God looked at all that he had made, and he saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning, and that was the sixth day.
On the morning of the seventh day God saw that the whole universe and everything in it was finished. Nothing else needed to be made. And it was all very good.
And so God rested on the seventh day. He celebrated all the good work he had done. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
What does that mean?
When something is "holy," that means that it is special. It belongs to God. When God made the seventh day holy, he made it his day. It belongs to him. He made the seventh day a special day, different from all the rest.
God rested from his work on the seventh day and enjoyed all that he had made. That is what God wants us to do too. On the seventh day of every week, God wants us to rest and enjoy all that he has made. That way we will always remember that all good things come from God.
God made everything there is, and he made it to be good. Always remember that.
God is so wonderful!
(Genesis 2.4-17)
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So God reached down into the ground and scooped up some stuff from the earth. He took the stuff from the earth into his hands and formed it into a man. But the man just laid there on the ground like a lump of clay. There was no life in him. So God bent down again and breathed into the man - and the man became alive! The man's body was made from the earth, but his life came from the breath of God. Always remember that. Your life is the breath of God. God called the man, 'Adam.' Then God planted a garden in Eden for Adam to live in. And since God is God, he is a pretty good gardener. He planted all kinds of trees in his garden; apple trees, and pear trees, banana trees and mango trees, fig trees and who knows what other kinds of trees in his garden. God wanted to make sure there were plenty of good things to eat. (Don't ask me why he didn't plant any candy trees!). In the middle of the garden God also planted two special trees. One was called the Tree of Life, and the other was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And God made a stream of clear, cool water to flow through the middle of the garden to water it and keep it green. Then God brought Adam to the garden and he told him, "Take care of my garden. You may eat the fruit of any of the trees that I have made to grow there. But be careful. Do not eat any of the fruit from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat any of that fruit, you will die." So Adam began to live and work in the garden God had made for him. The garden was a wonderful, beautiful place. But Adam was lonely. |
Even though the garden God had made for him was the most beautiful place there could ever be, Adam was lonely.
Adam needed some company. So God reached into the ground again and took some more stuff from the earth. This time he made every kind of animal and every kind of bird. He brought them all to Adam to see what he would call them.
It must have taken a long, long time to think up all those names!
Luckily, he didn't call them things like 'Foo Foo' or 'Snuggems' or 'Pooky' or anything like that. Instead, he called them 'gerbils' and 'rabbits' and 'rhinoceroses.' And he called the birds 'eagles' and 'egrets' and 'ruby throated warblers.'
Well, actually, we don't know WHAT Adam named them. He didn't speak English. But he named each kind, and that's important because people are the only ones that name things. Your dog knows what a squirrel is, but he doesn't call it a squirrel. He just barks at it! But naming things is one of the things that shows we are different from all the other creatures that God made.
But even with all the animals around to keep him company, God saw that Adam was still sad. Monkeys are fun to play with, but they don't have very much to say... and they have terrible table manners.
So God made Adam fall asleep (he must have conked him on the head or something), and while Adam was sleeping, God took one of his ribs.
God took Adam's rib and he made a woman from it. When Adam woke up, God brought Eve to him (that's what Adam named her later on), and Adam said,
"At last! Here is someone like me! Her bones were made from my bones, and her body was made from my body. I will call her 'woman' because that means she was taken out of man."
At last Adam was happy.
And so Adam and Eve lived together in God's garden. And do you know what? They were naked and nobody cared... or thought it was funny!
But that's another story...
(Genesis 3.1-13)
...there in the perfect place that God had made for Adam and Eve. But then one perfect, warm sunny day, Eve was walking through the garden. And there, in the middle of the garden, she met the serpent.
You need to know that the serpent was the one we call the devil, or sometimes we call him Satan. Satan is an angel who decided he didn't want to do what God said anymore, so God sent him out of heaven. And from that day on, Satan became God's enemy.
And since people can't see angels - or the devil - the devil appeared to Eve as a serpent. "Serpent" is another word for snake. Except this snake wasn't like the snakes we know today. He didn't crawl on the ground - yet. And somehow, he could talk.
Now, the thing is, Satan is a liar. He has always been a liar. And he is tricky too. And because he is God's enemy, he hates everything God loves, and does everything he can to ruin it.
So Satan said to Eve,
"Did God really tell you that you couldn't eat the fruit from any tree in the garden?"
That's not what God said at all, and Eve knew it. So she said to the serpent,
"God said we may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden - except the fruit from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we even touch that fruit, we will die." Well, that wasn't quite true either, was it. God never said anything about touching the fruit.
The serpent answered, "That's not true at all! You will not die! God only said that because he knows if you eat that fruit you will become like him. You will become wise. You will know what is good and what is bad."
And this is where Eve made her big mistake.
Instead of leaving right then, she stayed a while. She saw that the fruit on the tree looked very good. And she started thinking how nice it would be to be like God and know everything. But she also knew that God had said not to eat the fruit from that tree. Except now she was starting to think maybe it would be okay anyway. That fruit did look good. And the more she looked at it, the more she wanted it - and the more she forgot what God had said.
That is how temptation works. It is when you know something is wrong, but you want to do it anyway. And pretty soon the wrong thing you want to do starts to look good. And you think maybe just this one time it will be okay to go ahead and do it. You think the bad things that always come when you do what is wrong won't happen this time.
But they always do.
That's why things are wrong, because when you do them someone always gets hurt, sooner or later. But Eve wasn't thinking about that. She was only thinking about how delicious the forbidden fruit looked.
So Eve took some of the fruit, and she ate it.
And she gave some to Adam, and he ate it.
And all of a sudden they knew that they were naked.
Before that they were like little kids who run around naked and nobody cares - because little kids don't know any better. That's how Adam and Eve were before they ate the fruit God told them not to. Before that, they didn't know any better. They didn't know the difference between right and wrong. Now they did. Now they knew they were naked. And they were embarrassed.
God was walking through the garden in the cool of the evening as he liked to do. But when Adam and Eve heard him coming they hid from him in the bushes. They were embarrassed and afraid. God called to them, "Adam! Eve! Where are you?" (Of course, God knew where they were).
Adam answered from behind the bushes, "Right here, Lord... I heard you coming... so I hid from you... because I am naked."
"Who told you that you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat the fruit I told not to eat?" God knew that he had. He always knows.
"It wasn't me!" Adam said, "the woman you gave me, she made me do it!"
So God said to Eve, "Is that true?"
And Eve said, "It wasn't me! The serpent made me do it!"
They were in big trouble now.
