S108P2 – Creation story: a step on dry land

Gen. 1:9-10

Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

The year was 1995, and Kevin Costner was starring in a new movie called Waterworld.  The premise of the film was that the polar ice caps had melted and nearly flooded the whole Earth.  Land was so scarce that people had to live on the water.  I watched only a portion of that movie, but there was a feeling that rose in me as the plot unfolded.  There was something uncomfortable about water surrounding everyone and everything without a hint of land to be seen.  The surface is always moving, there is no steadiness, no security.  Without land as an anchor or a prospect, one is perpetually adrift.  It was quite an unreal setting, but there was a time when that kind of unsteadiness pervaded this world. 

What I see when I read of God collecting the seas and creating the lands is a God who understands the need for his creation to feel steady and secure.  Imagine our world without land and the vast amount of creation that could not exist without it.  The Lord in his wisdom gave us a solid place to set our feet and build our homes.  We can say that we are planted on these lands, a place of physical stability.  The land, sea, and air all serve their complementary purposes.  Each provides its benefits, but only the land is fixed and firm, a picture of the dependability our Father provides.  He took a formless, shapeless mass and fashioned it into landscape and seascape for his good pleasure and our good use. 

This was not the first and would not be the last time that God would look at what He had made and proclaim its goodness.  Everything He created was made with a specific purpose in mind, and it was all executed to perfection.  When you walk on the land, marvel at the fact that the one true God made it for you to place your feet.  When you swim in the sea, consider that the Lord has given you refreshment and enjoyment.  When you breathe the morning air, acknowledge the source of your every breath.  Father, thank You for the land, sea, and air, for their function and our benefit, for the stable place you give us on which to stand.