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

Day 3: Dry land appears

The primordial waters of the newly created world have been separated, and the space that has been revealed is called “Sky” in the Genesis account.  We discussed previously that this space could be conceptualized as the constant space in our lives that we have immediate control or influence over.  This could be our relationships within our family or community, how we choose to react to what is going on around us, our general orientation in the world.  This space is expansive, combinatorially explosive, seemingly limitless, having no obvious parameters or borders, just as the sky seems like it goes on forever in all directions.  Although this space is necessary and is the immediate and fundamental space that is brought forth, it can quickly become overwhelmingly uninhabitable, given its limitless properties.  We could orient ourselves toward others and the world in an unlimited number of ways that would lead us down different paths.  Therefore, we cannot stop there; the earth needs further ordering, further separating, further differentiating.  

And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.   Genesis 1:9

Notice that God did not raise the dry land from out of the waters with a magic wand and an abracadabra, but by gathering the waters into one place, the dry land appears.  What does this mean? The dry land and the chaotic waters are interconnected, a part of each other necessarily.  They are not opposites in that we can have one without the other, but when they are properly ordered, when they are in right relationship with each other, a beautiful dance commences.  Are not the lives we live similar, if not identical?  We cannot separate ourselves from the endless sea of possibilities of the future, or of what has happened in the past; all we have is the “dry land” that is the present.  The past is gone, the future has yet to come, we are “standing” in the present, on the land that was brought out of the waters of possibility and potential.  There is a certain way that we should orient ourselves in this life.  It is not running from our past and it is not delaying the inevitability of the future, but rather a right ordering and integrating of both in the present, the space that we occupy. 

 God continues,

 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas.  And God saw that it was good.   Genesis 1:10

 To identify and name is of the most importance in being able to walk through this life that has been given to us; without that, we would be overwhelmed by the complexity of existence.  We now have the expansive sky above us, the dry land below us, and the waters around us. This is the beginning of orientation within the world.  What is above, below, and around us has been named and identified, categorized within a conceptual framework.  Not only has it been named, but it has been characterized and declared as good.  The dry land is for us the space in which we are able to traverse, to make progress, to “ground” ourselves in.  This is the space that we inhabit, for the obvious fact that we do not dwell in the sky or in the sea, but on dry land.  Now that we have that space, we can begin to take steps toward something, fueled by purpose, goal, and meaning.  

 What has God given us through the Genesis account? What type of pattern has He given us that we can apply to our everyday lives?  In this three-part series, I hope I have shown at least one of those patterns, which is that God separates and differentiates chaos from order, and names and identifies the new spaces that are formed from that ordering.  What we get from that is a feeling of right orientation within the world, with what is above, what is below, and what surrounds us in right relationship with one another.  When we can begin to rightly orient ourselves in the world, we can begin to discover a direction to go in, a purpose to live by, and meaning that will produce for us abundant lives. This doesn’t mean that all of the details are worked out, we still have an adventure to go on, many little steps to take as we work out the kinks, figure out what works, figure out what doesn’t work.  This is very good news folks, God has created a good world that was to be in right relationship with one another.   As creatures made in the image of God, we can join in with Him to continue to bring that life and order that all of creation longs for.  I will end with a quote from a book that has helped me with noticing these deep patterns in infamous stories such as the Genesis creation account. 

“The pathways through the waters that would otherwise destroy us thereby makes itself known. Firm ground appears magically beneath our feet as we walk forward courageously and in good faith-eyes heavenward-toward the promised and proper destination.  Those who are by contrast possessed by the spirit of their own machinations will find themselves flooded, drowned and destroyed.”

 We Who Wrestle With God 

Jordan B. Peterson