Praising God the Creator

THE LESSON FOR TODAY impresses upon our minds the truths concerning the creative power of God. We are thankful for knowing the force behind the creation of all things. These words of the psalmist remind us of the Genesis account of the creation and preparation of earth to be man’s eternal home. Here we find this process described in very broad terms: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Gen. 1:1-5) Other creative “days,” or time periods, accomplished additional aspects of earth’s preparation for man.—vss. 7-31

Our Key Verse says the creation was accomplished “by the word of the Lord,” and “by the breath of his mouth.” These words infer that God did not personally create the heavens or the earth, but rather that he gave instructions which were perfectly executed. This understanding harmonizes with similar statements of the Bible, such as, “Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created;” “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God;” and “By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.”—Ps. 148:5; Heb. 11:3; II Pet. 3:5

From these and other Scriptures, we learn that while God is the architect of all things, he has used other agencies in various ways to carry out his plans. God was personally responsible for only one creation—his only begotten Son. He is “Jesus Christ, … Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” of God’s direct creation, and the central figure of his plan for man’s redemption. (Rev. 1:1,8; 22:13,16) By him, under the Heavenly Father’s direction, “were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth.” (Col. 1:16) When our first parents sinned, God’s Son willingly offered to come to earth to be man’s Redeemer. Paul tells us of this key feature of God’s plan, stating that he desires “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”—I Tim. 2:3-6

Comprehension of the Bible’s explanation that Jesus Christ is the first and last direct creation of God helps us understand the ransom. Knowing that God gave his only begotten Son to redeem Adam and his race allows us to greatly appreciate the full meaning of the statement that “God is love.” (I John 4:8) As we grasp these basic principles of truth, our love for the Heavenly Father deepens. We are also humbled, realizing that our understanding has only been made possible by the enlightenment of God’s Holy Spirit—a gift of his grace. We might appropriately define praise as the heart’s sincere expression of thanksgiving, love, reverence, and respect for God. How praiseworthy is our God—the Creator.