When planting a garden, I plan what seeds to plant and where to plant them. I consider what plants may work well together and what issues there were in the last garden. I consider the possible outcomes, concerns and potential problems. I intend to spend time cultivating and caring for it. Often though, the heat of summer, lack of time and general distractions pull me away from what I so carefully created. At the end of the season, I may declare if the garden was good or not good that year.
God’s decision thankfully does not depend upon human factors. God is all-knowing and knew that the creation he was making was good. God simply does not make mistakes. He knows us and loves his creation. He is not distracted or deterred by other factors such as weariness or fear.
Further, God is a present God always with his creation. God is not an absent Creator, he is an intentional and relational Creator. At the beginning of creation, it says in Genesis 1:2 that the “Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” He actively made each part of his creation as he knew was “good.” It is God that gives titles and names to his creation, not the creation that names itself.
In the difficulties or even mundaneness of our lives, we can forget to trust the Creator. God is a present God who is always with us and who knows exactly where, when and what his creation is doing each day. There is no need to fear the future if we know the God who has already created it before us.
R. Faye Richards, Monroe, N.C.
