A God of Order

We modern people live in an illusion. We believe we live in an orderly world over which we have immense control. Air conditioning, automobiles, electricity, and affluence deceive us into believing we control the world around us. The illusion bursts like a bubble when cancer, disease, violent weather, or broken relationships intrude.

People in the ancient world lived in a brutal world of scarcity. Not enough food or fresh water, war, robbers, and fickle weather. Surprises tended to be bad rather than good. Most people lived on the edge of disaster. Societies and families invented gods in an effort to control their circumstances and improve their futures.

It is no wonder that one of the primary duties of ancient rulers was to bring order into their societies. To bring order and eliminate chaos.

In light of that, re-read Genesis Chapter One and try to put yourself in the place of an ancient person. Here is some of what you would immediately understand:

· God is real, not just a made-up God.

· God spent as much effort placing things in order as in creating things. God is a God of Order, not just a Creator God.

· Being made in the image of God probably means that humans were created to help put things, and keep things, in order.

· Order is good, chaos is not.

· Creation wasn’t good because God was finished, but because it was perfectly designed to grow in an orderly manner.

Next time you hear someone say that God created everything, nod sagely and add, “Yes, and put everything in order.”