Are We Listening?

by Boone Leigh, LCMHC

Genesis 1:1 (English Standard Version) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (3) And God said, “Let there be light’, and there was light.

In these first couple of verses in Genesis, God reveals something very significant about himself. He is not like us. 

To the original hearing/reading audience that Moses was writing to (inspired of God), this would have been a different idea than what they had heard from the nations around them. Most ancient cultures had some sort of creation story. A common theme in these stories is that the universe, and humankind as part of that universe, was connected to their gods by being of the same “stuff”. Either the basic elements of the universe were eternal, and thus the gods and the universe were made out of this eternal matter (same substance idea), or the universe, world, and mankind were the offspring of the gods and thus still of the same substance. 

The biblical account of creation is very different. God creates by His power all things (the heavens and the earth). He speaks, and matter and order come into being. The significance is that it is not a part of Him, or an “emanation” from God, but rather distinct from Him. We as human beings are not little divine sparks who originate from the great flame (God) as some eastern religions speak of. God is wholly different than us. 

One significant idea that comes from this is that God alone speaks creation into existence and thus all power and authority come from Him. We do not participate in this. We are not authorities or truths of ourselves which we could claim if we were of the same stuff as God. Most of my problems in life, and the lives of others, come from doing things my way and seeking to be an authority or source of self derived truth. God alone speaks and the universe comes into being. God alone has the authority to speak to His creation and state what truth is, what love is, what righteousness is, and how we are to believe and live. 

When I stop trying to be the one who speaks and instead listen to the God who alone spoke and the universe came into being, then my life starts making sense. God has spoken, and still speaks through his Word. Are we listening?


Boone Leigh, LCMHC
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