And it was Good

"Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!" Genesis 1:31

These are the words that have been on my heart for the past few days.  I think when the world starts to bog us down with bad news and horrifying events, we all tend to lose sight of this verse.  Everything God created was good.  Nothing he created was bad.  You may wonder, "How can this be with so much tragedy and suffering daily?  The bad stuff had to come from somewhere.  We've never known a life without destruction--as far aw we know, life has always been this way.  Don't give me that load of bologna!"  Well, let's go back--allllllllllllll the way back to the beginning..to Genesis.

I'll be honest, I've tried to read through Genesis--it puts me to sleep. "Information overload" book is what is should be called, goodness gracious!  But I do like the beginning of it--it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  When God made the earth, he had us in mind.  He made the earth full of vegetation and full of lots of nummies for us to feast on (Genesis 1:12, 29-30).  Not only were the plants for us to eat, but for every living creature to eat (I guess fish eat plants in the ocean?).  If you ever wanted to know when vegetarianism started--there you go!  It started when God created us.  No one ate each other--no crazy food chain.  We all ate plants, people!  What's the importance of that?  Um, no killing--duh!  God didn't make us to kill and slaughter things--we were all created in harmony--we were created to rule over all the animals that roamed the earth (Genesis 1:26, 28); we were created in God's image (well, Adam and Eve were, then we inherited their sinful nature...so we were never perfect and whole!), but since they were created in the image of God, how could we really be so horribly natured (Genesis 1:27)?  Can you imagine a world where you could pet a panther without fear that it would eat your fingers off? That is totally out of control and I wouldn't even let myself dream that for fear I may actually lose a few of my fingers and toes.  Yikes!

Now that we've got that all out of the way, we can move onto the next part.  When God created Adam and Eve, there was also a tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that was in the garden of Eden that God specifically said NOT to eat from (Genesis 2:17).  Well, that obviously didn't work out so well, now did it? Eve was tempted to eat the fruit first (by that nasty little snake), and she gave into that temptation because she wanted the wisdom it would give her--the knowledge God wanted to keep from his creation--then she shared it with Adam (Genesis 3:6).  After this, their eyes were immediately open to all things good and evil--the first sin--the beginning of all our downfalls (Genesis 3:7).  Before this point, they knew no hurt, they knew no destruction.  Adam and Eve lived with God, and shared in all of his goodness that he had created.  God had given them everything they needed, but they wanted more because they believed him to be stingy, keeping knowledge from them that they wanted to know.  Ever wanted to know something so bad that you went way out of your way to get, and then after you find out, you regret ever wanting to know?  Yea, I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve regretted believing God was so selfish because that sin sure did cause a lot of unnecessary pain--not only for themselves, but to all the future generations (Genesis 3:16-19).  Um, can you say massive boo-boo?

Because of their sin, they had to be punished.  What parent in their right mind wouldn't punish their children for doing something so totally wrong?  That's all God did...he punished them, hoping that at some point they would learn to obey his command.  Bad things occur because we are sinners by birth, and we will all continue to be that way as long as this world goes on, meaning bad things will continue to happen.  I've often wondered why God decided to put that tree in front of them.  Wouldn't it have been better to just leave the tree out of the garden so that Adam and Eve would have never be tempted to go near it?  No, no.  That would be too easy.  God isn't manipulative, he doesn't make you do things you don't want to do.  He gives you the choice to do right from wrong.  He beckons for you, he calls for you, he wants you; but he wants you to respond, to answer, to want him as well.  What would be the point of surrounding yourself with people who really have no interest in you or desire to be with you?  It wouldn't be fun to share things with those who don't really appreciate what you have to offer, who won't listen to your wishes--why do we expect God to be any different?  Most of us would kick our friends to the curb if they totally disregarded everything we said to them and totally shoved a knife in our back.  God was hurt when Adam and Eve disobeyed him..but he's different.  He didn't throw us out on the curb with no hope (although he did kick Adam and Eve out of the garden) he gave us a way back to him, but he leaves the invitation open to us to either accept it or decline it.  Although bad stuff happens now, it won't always be that way, not for those who decide to take that leap of faith to turn to God and surrender everything.  It's a big plunge, and a bit scary at first, but then it's so beautiful.

God could put us all in a cozy little bubble, protected from all things mean and hateful, like he did with Adam and Eve, but what makes you think that it would be any different a second time around?  You can't say that if God had put you in the garden, you wouldn't be tempted to eat off that tree that he told you to stay away from, because then you'd be a liar.  We'd all like to think that we would do things differently, but in all reality, it would have the same outcome as it did the first time.  You would face plant.  Point blank.

But, in saying all of that, in most cases where bad situations occur, something good always comes out of it.  Sometimes it takes a little bit of digging to find the good things (or, maybe you basically have to dig to China and back before you find it).  Other times it's just a matter of you either wanting to find the good or letting the bad overshadow any possibility that there ever being anything positive again.  We can't see the whole picture if we have our nose right in the middle of it--you would probably make yourself cross-eyed trying.  Why not take a few steps back every once and a while--I promise it's much easier to see the big picture when you're looking at it from a distance.  But don't just take my word for it; try it yourself sometime.