God and His Work
Define What Is Good
Genesis 1:10
Passage To Study: Genesis 1:10
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Flow of the Passage:
- (Verse 10) - God names the dry land and the seas that He has just created and arranged.
What Do I Think About It?
Men define what is good in many different ways. Some of them are good and acceptable ways, and some of them are not so good, and are, ultimately, unacceptable. It seems, many times, that there are as many definitions of what is good as there are opinions around us. Obviously, this is not a “good” thing!
Some men define good as what is most beneficial or pleasant to them. Others define it as what is most beneficial to others. Still others vary this, and say that the good is what is the most beneficial to the largest number of people. Then there are those who define the good as being that which accomplishes the goal, whatever works is good. There are those who define good as that which is the product of human creativity and effort. All music and art, to them is good, because it is an expression of the human spirit. Others define good as being which is consistent with tradition and the way things have always been, change is almost never good. Conversely, there are those who define good as consisting ever of change, remaining the same, for them, is never good.
This passage lets us in on a little secret. Men don’t define what is good at all, God does.
All of the various definitions of good that men have, those listed and many more besides, contain at least one thing in common. They all measure the good by a standard that is exterior to themselves. That is, the look at the thing they are evaluating and at the standard of good, and see if the thing measures up to that standard. It is not so with God.
There is no outside standard by which God measures His work. To measure good in this fashion implies that there is an authority outside of the measurer by which the good is measured. This is certainly the case with men. For God, there is no outside authority, because God Himself is the ultimate authority in the universe. There is no standard, outside of Himself, by which He is obligated to measure that work. He is His own standard.
This means that whatever God does, is, by definition, good. He is not capable of doing that which is less than good because what He does, thinks, and says, is the default standard for what counted as “good”. This is why the Bible declares that God cannot be tempted by evil. Evil, wickedness, and sin, can be defined as that which is a contradiction or a violation of God’s nature, and of His command (which is a reflection of that nature). Can God do that which is evil? No – He cannot because whatever He does is good.
We must remember that He is not a being of the same kind as we are. One of the characteristics of our nature is that we are changeable. Events and circumstances around us change, and they, having an influence upon us, cause us to alter our thoughts, actions, etc., in response to them. Once again, it is not so with God. God is unchangeable. He is forever the same and is no able to be affected by any force or occurrence outside of His own being. What god does, He does because He chooses to, not because of any influence outside of Himself, or in response to anything that is happening around Him. It is not that God is unresponsive to His creation, but that His nature is such that it responds to Him, and not vice-versa.
Here we see a prime example of this principle. God created, and then He declared it to be good. It is not that He stepped back, and compared it to some standard that existed outside of Himself, and saw, with satisfaction, that it measured up to the standard, and so saw that it was good. No, this is not so. God created, and then, by fiat, Divine decree, declared that what He had created was good. This is far different, I’m sure you’ll agree, than the former. God does things, and those things are, by definition, and by demand of His character, good!
What Difference Does This Make To Me?
This is important to me for a couple reasons, chief of which is the understanding that it gives me of the nature of God. Too many people today have the concept of God that makes Him a responder to the events and actions of men. The declare that, in order for men to be free and for the world to be what it appears to be, God must be changeable and to be changeable He must be a responder to the events around Him. In this, they make God to be like a man, and damage, I believe, gravely, His nature. The book of Genesis begins with a God Who takes proactive and declarative action to create that which He desires to create. This is not in response to, or in subjection to, any standard outside of Himself. He did it because it was what He wished to do. When finished creating, He declared it to be good, and moved on to the next aspect of His plan and purpose. This is a God Who is worthy of being followed, Who is worthy of worship. It is not a God Who, sadly, is like the one often painted by those who wish to exalt the nature of man at His expense.
Is There Anything For Me To Do?
I need to be very careful that I do not make God over in my own image; imagining Him to be like me.
Care To Respond?
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