God’s Creative Power

MEMORY SELECTION: “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.” —Proverbs 3:19

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Psalm 104:1-9; Proverbs 3:19, 20

IN ISAIAH 45:18 we read: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.” Then again, in Psalm 19:1,2, the psalmist states: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Surely no truer statement of fact has ever been written!

An appreciation of the infinite power of the Creator should bring us to realize our own littleness and make us teachable. How marvelously is the power of God manifested in his creative works! Think for a moment of our own solar system, which is an infinitely small part of the universe. We would stand appalled at the great power of the Creator if the Scriptures did not assure us that he is as loving and kind as he is wise and powerful.

The six days of creation outlined in the first chapter of Genesis are descriptive, not of the creation of the earth, but of its gradual preparation for vegetable and animal life necessary to sustain his crowning act of creation, man.

In Genesis 1:26-28 we read: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish [fill, Strong’s] the earth, and subdue it.”

The earth was made for man, and man, by design, is peculiarly adapted to the earth. The orderly development of the planet, leading up to the creation of man—a being in the likeness of God himself—indicates a design and a great Designer.

God indicated what this ultimate purpose was for man here on the earth when he instructed the first pair to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” But it was also God’s purpose that man would be obedient to his laws.

But even though Adam was created perfect—that is, in the mental and moral likeness of God—he was a free moral agent. He had the freedom of choice, and he chose to be willfully disobedient, and therefore the penalty for willful sin—death—was pronounced upon him. This meant returning to the dust from which he was taken.—Gen. 3:19

But God in his foreknowledge knew what the result of Adam’s test would be, and the Scriptures tell us that he provided Jesus to be man’s Redeemer before the foundation of the world. (I Pet. 1:19,20) God in his wisdom knew that Adam and all his offspring needed an experience with sin and death in order to make an intelligent choice between good and evil.

The great Creator’s purpose will not be thwarted, because in his design for man he has provided that in due time Adam’s condemnation will be lifted and all will be given a first real opportunity to learn righteousness and be obedient under the favorable circumstances of the kingdom.—Isa. 26:9; Isa. 2:4; Ps. 98:9; Rev. 20:1-3; Zeph. 3:9; Jer. 31:33,34

In Hebrews 2:6-9 the Apostle Paul summarizes our lesson very well when he states: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest hint? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

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