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NIV is used unless otherwise noted.



Three Lessons from Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 
Genesis 1:1


The first chapter of Genesis seems so basic. God created the heavens and the earth. But when you study creation, it’s so detailed!

The more I learn about nature, the more I’m amazed at God’s creativity.

In Genesis 1:20, God tells the waters to teem with living creatures. It’s one sentence. But wow, that includes 2,000 species of starfish, 86 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, and 54 species of seahorses. And those are just the ones we know about!

Genesis 1:11 says let the land produce vegetation. Again, sounds simple. Trees are only one type of vegetation, and there are 20,000 types in the world. Let’s look at just one: the coconut palm tree. I’m partial to anything tropical, and coconut everything seems to be very popular right now. I’ve found more than 100 uses for coconut oil that range from cooking to moisturizing your body. We can drink coconut water and milk.

Around the world, people use every part of the coconut. The shell becomes a bowl. Crafters use leaves for toys and baskets. Chefs use palm leaves for cooking wraps. Builders fashion small canoes or furniture from the trunks.

Here are three lessons that I’ve learned from observing nature:

  1. God likes variety. 
  2. He creates a purpose for everything. 
  3. He’s surrounded us with resources.
  4. If God is so detailed with nature, how much more so He is with us. 
That being said, He knows we enjoy discovering new things. After all, He made us! Perhaps He wants us to ask, to involve Him in our discovery.

Could it be that God wants to reveal new things to us?

Isaiah 48:57 says, 

“From now on I will tell you of new things,
of hidden things unknown to you.
They are created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say,
‘Yes, I knew of them.’

I challenge you to spend time on a regular basis with God, and listen for Him to speak. You never know what you might learn!

Stacy

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