Observations as I follow God through the Chronological Bible.

Read Genesis 1:6-23

On days two through five of creation, I observe God working methodically. He first spoke his desire. Having stated what he desired, he took action to make it a reality. He also named what he made, formed or created.

God separated the waters that covered the earth with an expanse and called it heaven. He commanded the waters below heaven to gather into one place, revealing the land. He named the dry land earth and the waters seas.

Next on his agenda grass, plants, and fruit trees to nourish life before there were any living creatures in need of food. Within the plants and trees are seeds, which made them a perpetual source of sustenance.  On the fourth day, God made a different form of light than the light (happiness) he called into existence on day one. He made the sun, moon and stars guaranteeing there would always be a source of light even in the darkness of night. Something new happened on the fifth day. He created the first living creatures. God blessed the creatures, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.” [1]

In the first five days of creation I read five times that God paused to observe what he had done, and he “saw that it was good.” [2] The Apostle Peter admonished the recipients of his second letter to remember “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”  Using Peter’s ratio of God’s perception of time one year is less than two minutes. [3]  Therefore, it either took God seconds to create happiness or 6,000 years.

As humanity perceives time it took God five days to transform a shapeless void of darkness and misery into something “good.” God responded to darkness and misery by doing good, but he was not finished. On day six, he did something “very good.” Regardless of what we think about this planet and the creatures that inhabit it, God’s intent was to create good things. Did God give us good things? He thinks he did.

I can conclude that I am following a God who judges his creation when they rebel against his divine order. He responds to the misery and evil we cause by producing happiness, and it is his intent to do good things.

[1] Genesis 1:22, KJV

[2] Genesis 1:4,10, 12, 18, 21

[3] http://www.divinecoders.com/thousand-years-as-one-day.php#