The Second Day - Separating the Waters from the Waters
Genesis 1:6-8
And God said, “let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and the let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day .”
The ancients conceived of creation of as a “formless void” of churning water. God takes this chaos and brings it to order. After light and darkness have been separated, God separates the waters by placing waters above and under the “dome” At first this sounds strange to modern ears. However, if you think about it, it makes sense to a pre-scientific mind for the sky did/does look like a big huge bowl which has been turned upside down and the ancients believed that this dome (a giant upside down bowl) rotated with the sun, moon, and stars fixed in spots on the dome. Thus the celestial objects were seen to move across the sky as the dome rotated. Now outside and above the bowl were waters that were separated by God from the waters under the bowl. The waters above the bowl would fall as rain on the earth when God opens “the windows of the heavens” (Genesis 7:11 - story of Noah).
We see how the ancients took their pre-scientific view of the world and used it to explain natural phenomena they saw happening on the earth.
The key spiritual understanding is how God cared for, and made space for the human life to evolve/to be created. For by separating the waters, God made space for human life.
Having recently moved from one of the wettest places on earth (the Midwest which not only has plenty rain but is also blessed with the fresh water Great Lakes) to one of the driest (Southern California blessed by sunlight but with little rain and a vast but salty ocean) you can readily see how water controls life. Wild fires that are almost non-existent in Michigan but prevalent in California.
The wonderful sunset pictures, (Point Mugu) were taken last Sunday, November 16 2008, after wild fires had consumed many hillside dwellings here in Southern California. The smoke from that terrible consumption is what made the sunsets so beautiful.
Wild fires are a expected part of the natural order here, especially since the “windows of heaven” are rarely opened to allow rain to fall to the earth. Yet people persist to make a dwelling in places of high fire danger and high winds (I will share more about the Santa Ana Winds another time.).
The point, which is obviously to me, (but hotly contested by developers and politicians) is that creation is constantly in danger of falling back into chaos (earthquakes, tornadoes, droughts, wild fires, hurricanes, etc) and we need to respect it. God did create the world with “space” for potential human life, but no where in Scripture are we told that God will protect us from our own folly - building homes in a wild fire.
For instance, when I was first learning to tent camp, I realized the folly of setting up my tent in a low flat area (even if it was shaded and smooth) because when it started raining at night I woke up to find myself sleeping in the middle of steam! Now, when I was up the next morning looking for a laundry mat to dry out everything should I have cursed God because I was stupid enough to set up a tent in a gully? Obviously I had only myself to blame for my inconvenience and I soon learned to read the topography of the land and set up my tent on safer ground. Yet today people build their multi-million dollar homes in fire zones and then feel like “victims” of nature or God when they burn down.
We are called in this age to be good care takers of the earth and to respect the forces of creation which are always in danger of falling back into chaos. To neglect our responsibility to care for the earth can lead us to not only spoil (pollute) the good creation and but also to permanently degrade it through global warming.
Good Christian theology leads us to live lives of reverence and respect for God’s world and calls us this Thanksgiving to be grateful for the place that was created for us.
Peace,
Pastor John