God's creation: Reflects 
God's Character

I had been reading afresh the story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2. I was struck by how God does things in excess. Maybe that is not the right word to use. We say something is excessive when there are limited resources. God can afford to be excessive because there is no limit to what He can do or create.

“God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaves to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years: and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heaves to give light on the earth”;  and it was so” (Genesis 1:14-15).

If I am not from this planet and don’t know any better, I could imagine this to mean just one sun, one moon and a handful of stars, which in my unscientific mind should be sufficient to light and heat up this planet.  However, we all know that this is not so. Brilliant scientists and astrologists have after all these years still not been able to ascertain how many stars, galaxies and universes there are! I Googled, “how many stars are there in the sky?” Google spit out an answer (in .43 seconds flat!) and it said:

To answer “how many stars are there,” we must limit the discussion to what we can observe. Astronomers estimate that the observable universe has more than 100 billion galaxies. Our own Milky Way is home to around 300 billion stars, but it's not representative of galaxies in general.

Hah! They can count only what is observable and even then they have to use the word “around” to say how many stars they think there are. God is truly awesome. I think He does things in excess because He is so powerful, it is almost safe to say He is incapable of doing less! He just said, “a word,” and look what happened! So then He moved on and created animals including birds and sea creatures. I asked Mr. Google again and here is what he said (I am not sure why I assume Google is a “he”):

Believe it or not, there are about 950,000 species of insects. No one knows for sure how many species of animals exist on Earth. In fact, some 10,000 species of animals are discovered each year, with over one and a half million species already described.

Another Hah! “No one knows for sure…” How about creatures of the sea? Googled failed to give me a simple answer this time and I clicked on the site that sounded more scientific, the NewScientist.com. Marine biologists have come up with an updated catalogue of “known” marine species sometime in 2008, and they said there are about known 230,000 species, but that there could be 1 to 10 million more (by Catherine Bahic, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14206-how-many-species-live-in-the-sea.html).

Overkill. At least that is what I say - with humor. Why did He make those pesky mosquitoes, spiders and fire ants? Gazillion stars which lights takes zillion years to travel to earth!

Humor aside - and I believe God has a great sense of humor, just take a look at a rhino, a turtle, a giraffe, or my uncle Pedro – the stars and meteors in the sky with all their varied shapes and sizes, and sheer number made the Psalmist pen this words, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). It is both awe-inspiring and comforting to know that God is powerful, and yet, He wants me to have a personal relationship with Him. Even the way He demonstrated His grace and love to reconcile us humans back to Him is nothing but simple. No puny little lamb. He sent no less than His Only Begotten Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. This, so that this great big God who created this majestic planet and universe can live inside us.

If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:10-11.

The Spirit of this amazing God dwells within me, so what does this make me? A super woman! Indeed, this is not really far from the truth! I am a child of God with whom He has made all His resources available to, so I can live a life in a way that will likewise proclaim His glory and majesty! What a thrill!

Prayer:

God, Creator of All: I bow and worship you in all your Majesty and Power! You alone are God who is worthy to be praised and adored! Thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for me so you and I can have a relationship. Thank you that I can live the super natural life you want me to live by faith. Help me to truly live in such a way that I may show your power and glory wherever I am. All these for your glory, Amen.