There is God

DEVOTION

GENESIS

THERE IS GOD

Gen 1:11-13

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.

NIV

It does seem a little odd that God would speak all the plant life into existence before he put the sun and the moon in the expanse. How did all that plant life live without the sun to nourish them? Of course it was only one evening and one day and we do not actually know what kind of time frame that was. Moses could only use the terms he was familiar with as far as what God did first, second, third, fourth and so on. But then God was the one telling him the story about how he created all that which is created. So then God used the terms which Moses was familiar with, evening and morning. But that does not actually mean it was truly one day at a time. It could have been all done in milliseconds, or over thousands or millions of years. We simply have to take all that on faith. The point being is that God created all the plant life. When we consider the two fold reason for him doing this, it is absolutely astounding. With all we know about the world we live in mankind has discovered the plant life uses the carbon dioxide all living beings exhale to sustain their life. In fact the more carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere the faster and larger all the plant life grows. As the population of the world increases, so does the size and quantity of all plant life. On the reverse side the more plant life there is the more oxygen is available for mankind because all plant life uses the carbon dioxide and as a result emits off oxygen. This is just another proof of the almighty power and wisdom of God. During all this creation process, no matter the time frame, he has everything perfectly fitting together, in fact precisely fitting together. The plants will not be able to sustain their lives without the humans, and the humans will not be able to sustain their lives without the plants. This is a symbiotic relationship. Of course in the beginning there was a far greater number of plants then humans and other living beings, so we are still left with the fact that God sustains all life upon the earth. All matter of life is depended on God to exist. Yet God also has an additional reason for creating all this plant life.

Rom 1:18-20

 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse .

NIV

All of creation is for his glory, and for the purpose that all men would be able to see his hand, his power, his divine nature, simply by looking at all of nature that he created. When we sit in the surroundings of this wonderful nature God has spoken into existence for us to live amidst and enjoy the enormous variety of trees and bushes as well as all the life forms he has created, how can we ever deny he is God. All this just did not happen, it could not without his divine power. Although we have not yet come to the time of the sun and the moon, all the animals and of course mankind, we have to know he is perfect in all he does. This earth is precisely at the perfect distance from the sun to sustain all the life he has created on it. If the earth was any other distance in its orbit around the sun we would not have what we have. Life would not be able to exist as it does. We would either be too hot all the time, or too cold for life to exist. But here we are in a perfect environment created by God for his purpose. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. So what do we learn here for our benefit, for either our knowledge of God or how we should live? We can know he is the creator and he has established all the plant life for the purpose of mankind. Some would say mankind exists for the purpose of being a steward of nature. That the environment is so fragile that we have to live accordingly as not to destroy it. But how can we, mankind, destroy anything God has created? Are we greater then he? That would seem to be the thinking of those who refuse his being the creator of all things. But that is not the case. He has created all things and that is why everything exists. He is God and we are his creation. He placed us in a position to dominate all the rest of his creation, not to be slave to it, but to master it. We are really ahead of ourselves but we need to see this even now so that we can keep this truth throughout all of creation.

Gen 1:28

"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

NIV

All the plant life is for us, we are not for it. The plants are here for our lives, we are to subdue all the earth, use it for our lives. We are going to see that in the beginning all living beings ate from the plants. All living beings, all mankind, all the animals ate from the plants, all were vegetarian. This is one of the reasons God created all the plants, the seed bearing plants, the fruit bearing plants, to be food for all the living beings he was about to create. We are so much indebted to him for all we have. Everything we ever had, have and will ever have is in accordance with his divine will for us. This is his creation we are living in and it is for us to live and enjoy and use for our lives and most importantly to find him. God is pleased with all he has done so far. The earth, the land the seas, and now all the plants. What a joy to know God has done all this. When mankind asks the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” we can answer, “No, there is God”.