Texas Border Business
BY CAREY KINSOLVING AND FRIENDS
“God was very content when he first saw it,” says Cooper. “He also relaxed.”
“Relaxed”? Cooper, I think you mean “rested.” God rested on the seventh day from his creation work. Somehow, the image of God relaxing instead of resting isn’t comforting, since he’s got the whole world in his hands.
“Yes, I think he was happy because he was tired of seeing just darkness, and it made him happy,” says Mandy, 7.
The Bible says darkness was upon the surface of the deep, which probably means the land God selected for human habitation was covered with water. “Let there be light” was God’s first creative act to make the land habitable.
“God was content because of the flowers, trees, the birds and their singing, and the animals and their soft fur. God saw how beautiful it was,” says Sara, 10.
God is an artist, says another Sarah, 6: “It was sort of like when you painted something, and God just wanted people to enjoy his creation.”
“At first, God was content when he saw what he made because everything was so pretty,” says Courtney, 8. “Adam named the animals. He and Eve would walk with God in the night.
“They had a lot of animal friends. The animals were very nice then. Adam and Eve had a beautiful garden all to themselves. They loved God.”
As long as Adam and Eve “loved God,” there was harmony. God was content, and the first couple was satisfied to rest in his loving provision.
As finite beings created in God’s image, we have an innate longing for a relationship with an infinite being, and that longing cannot be satisfied by any finite person or thing. The trouble begins when we trust in the finite, usually ourselves, instead of the all-knowing, perfectly loving God.
Enter Satan, the serpent, with his knapsack of discontent, lies and wrong desires. Katie, 10, says God was content until “Adam and Eve sinned. God was grieved, as everybody was thinking only evil thoughts all the time. So God sent the flood, but saved Noah. Then, He sent Jesus so we could be saved.”
“God made us to love and to love him,” adds Caroline, 10. “Today in our time, there is criminal murder, which God hates.”
Compared to murder, eating the forbidden fruit offered by the wily serpent seems like an insignificant though not totally innocent act. Yet, murder is exactly where disobedience to God led.
Remember Cain and Abel? God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s. Cain slit his brother’s throat because he was angry.
In a time when the news seems to report one bizarre crime after another, it’s difficult to imagine that the world was once a source of contentment for God. In spite of how bleak things look, God is busy restoring his fallen creation. He wants to restore us to the place of being content with his provision for us. And his most precious provision is the gift of eternal life received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “the light of the world” (John 8:12).
“And God saw the light, that it was good” (Genesis 1:4a).
Think about this: God is content with the light he shined into the world at creation and the light he shined into a fallen world when he sent his Son to redeem us.
Memorize this truth: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
Ask this question: Have you let God’s light shine into your soul?
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