Can you imagine when God made parrots? The feathers in all their beautiful colors; how about lions and seeing their eyes looking right at Him? Tiny sparrows He reminds us He knows when each one falls. Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. Genesis 2:19. I can’t help but think about those galaxies we can see now with the aid of the James Wood telescope and knowing there are so many more because we can only see the limits imposed by that telescope. God is limitless. As I sat quietly this morning after reading Genesis 2, I could feel and hear life all around me. God created life. Life that is teeming with energy.

In the beginning of life on earth He also made a garden. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. v. 8-9. The knowledge of good and evil. In the commentary it notes that evil already occurred, if not in the garden then at the time of Satan’s fall. God knew. Adam and Eve, whom God formed out of the dust of the ground, just as he formed the wild animals and all the birds of the sky (v. 19) didn’t yet know so He warned Adam and gave him a choice. You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. v. 15-18.

I keep thinking about how beautiful the earth was in the beginning: the air so clean, the water so fresh, life teeming everywhere and sounds that had never before been heard joyously sounding forth…and it was all good because Almighty God, the Creator of all life, brought it all into being.

The tree of life we will read about again in the last chapter of Revelation. The knowledge of good and evil isn’t even mentioned because then evil and the knowledge of it will be no more. I know what’s coming in the next chapter of Genesis and in the pages of our history writ without any cleaning up to make it prettier. God doesn’t spare the details of our choices good and awful. I’ll hunker down as I read the awful accounts of human’s hearts for evil and I’ll rejoice with the accounts of faith in God the Creator of love and good and holiness so beautiful we will weep tears of sorrow for all we have done for evil when we each of us stand before Him. Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. Psalm 130:1-4.

God is a God of mercy and love who knows what we are made of. He loves us. He will redeem us and bring us out of the mire of evil that enslaves us. We can’t see the mire but He can. I wait patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. Psalm 40:1-3.

Take His hand. He’ll show you a better way. He reminded me this morning that I am part of this teeming life and that I move and have my being in Him (Acts 17:28). I am bound in a life that cannot experience eternity without Him. How grateful I am for Him. I’m thankful for all He created, but I am especially grateful for God Himself. He will lead me in paths of righteousness, He restores my soul. Psalm 23. Thank you, Lord, for all you do.