I read through the chapters three times this morning to confirm a thought that had been swirling around in my head the past few days.
Every so often I like to dissect things that have been resolute in my life, not to challenge them but to gain greater understanding around them and this was one of those times. The story of creation. God was trying to teach me something, show me something, that I have read many times over and had never sat with to process.
It was God’s first recorded spoken observation of His own creation, and He said it was “not good”.
That may sound odd and I get it. I grabbed all of my trusted commentaries and homiletic studies but this part just kept getting skipped over.
God spoke to create. He spoke to give purpose and boundaries. But the first time God spoke to make an observation (not just “seeing” only that it was good), scriptures record that He says “it is not good…” (Genesis 2:18).
This may be of no significance to anyone, but to me this morning it has spoken life to some very weary bones and I would love to attempt to describe just why.
If we take in the entire first portion of the story we see an omniscient God in the throes of an incredible work. The very world we see around us comes together in a masterfully crafted and orchestrated production. It is beautiful. Every part of it is good. Every part of it is intricately designed to need no other revision to do exactly what it is needed to do for all eternity.
The birds and bees have all they need. The trees and waters and sands all with enough intention to withstand the test of time. But the man who was created with just as much intention, who was placed in the most beautiful of places with purpose and boundaries and relationship with God, was the first thing that God had to take another stab at.
Not because He did it wrong. Not because what He created wasn’t already good. But because it was incomplete.
Read that last part again.
This is where my arm hairs raise up and my throat swells a little. This is where the tears form in my eyes and I feel a sense of relief because there are many things on this earth that feel not right, not healthy, not justifiable, and certainly NOT GOOD but we have a tendency to not say those parts. Not even look at them.
Do we imagine that this would be an act of defiance or words spoken against those of faith? Because it can feel like that. But it turns out that making an honest observation is not unholy. In fact, God did it first.
A lonely man who needed companionship, who needed someone to help fulfill his purposes, who needed a mother for his children was incomplete and God paused to validate what Adam may have only felt. Honestly who knows if Adam even saw that far ahead to know he was lonely yet. But God did, whether Adam understood or not, God did. So He made woman.
The point? He allowed Himself to recognize where it wasn’t working and kept on until it was good again.
I pray this hits you right smack dab in the middle of your not good situation. Giving you permission to acknowledge a broken world with the hope that God hasn’t ended the chapter just yet. That is the whole purpose for this whole adventure of “looking for the good”. It is the whole reason I am reaching out for others to share their stories. Because sometimes we are caught examining things in the middle of the page not realizing that the very next sentence is God making a better way for us.
(Genesis 2:18 “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”)
Look for the good, friends. And if it isn’t good yet, then just know that you are allowed to say so while still holding onto the belief that He isn’t finished telling your story.
