The First Three Days of Creation: A Way to Order Our Lives Part 2

Day 2: Space between the Waters of Chaos

During day one of creation, God brought forth Light, separated and differentiated it from darkness, and called it good.  From this good and illuminating Light, we are able to see the world before us.  We are able to focus and attend to particular things rather than be consumed and overwhelmed by the chaotic darkness.  But there is still all of that unknown, all of that multiplicity, in the dark, tumultuous waters of chaos.  Each day is bathed in light as the Sun rises, our world is unveiled before our tired eyes and what is illumined could be imagined as an endless sea of possibilities, we haven’t yet put things in their proper order so that we can progress in the world, our senses haven’t quite attuned to what is being illuminated by the light.  What was established on the first day is fundamental to our being able to take steps forward into the vast expanse of possibilities that lies before us with the coming of the dawn.  What the Genesis account gives us is hope, the solid ground of believing that the Light that allows us to see is fundamentally good, and because of that goodness, I am able to traverse the raging seas, no matter the how, I have the why.  I am able to take that first, most important step into the unknown of the future. 

 What does God do after establishing the good Light and separating it from the darkness? 

 Genesis 1:6 “And God said, Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 

 What is happening here?  A further separating of the chaotic waters, which represent the innumerable amount of possibilities that the future brings into a particular structure and order.  We will see time and time again that when God brings forth life, He also establishes order within that life, and that order brings about meaning and purpose, and is precisely why we can find and are driven by meaning and purpose as beings made in His image.  Beyond just separating waters from waters, but from that separating comes a space, a firmament, a space devoid of the waters. We can think about this newly formed space within the context of our everyday lives as the space of immediate attainable and effectual order and structure.  In simpler terms, the things in our lives that we have control over.  When I say control, I do not mean manipulation but rather active and conscious participation that brings about life.  You could stretch that conceptualization out into what, in general, you have control over in your life, namely, how you carry yourselves in your relationships to your family, and the broader community you are a part of.  This space is a constant space throughout our whole lives, although it will always be changing on some levels depending on the immediate circumstances of our lives.  What stays constant is the simple, yet powerful reality of the effectual nature of our relationship with that space.  There will always be things within that immediate space that I have control over, that I have power over, to either bring about life and order, or death and destruction.  

 After this space is brought forth, God gives it a name. 

 “So God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good; and there was evening and morning, the second day.”  Genesis 1:8

 Bringing further order into creation, God names this space Heaven.  Putting aside for now all the many conceptions of what Heaven is, for our purposes today, Heaven is the first legitimate space that God creates.  Heaven helps us to separate the waters that are above, and the waters that are below, creating a space for us to begin to progress and participate in the life and order that God is bringing about.  This space, that is constant throughout our lives, provides us with the ability and extends the invitation to take that first, crucial step in the adventure that is life.  With God’s good, and guiding Light, and this new, heavenly space, we start to brave the unknown of the ever-looming future.