Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Lesson for September 4, 2016

Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Lesson for September 4, 2016

Bible Studies for Life By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University

One Great Creator

Psalm 33:6–9, 13–15;
Colossians 1:15–17

There are moments when the beauty and power of God’s creation resonate so strongly within us that our hearts burst with the words of the psalmist: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have established, what are human beings that You are mindful of them, mortals that You care for them?” (Ps. 8:3–4).

This mixture of delight and wonder at creation and the God who formed that creation is one which appears often in Scripture. It is especially prominent in the great creation hymn, Psalm 33.

God created me. (Ps. 33:6–9)

In verses 6–9 of the psalm, the psalmist marvels at the greatness of the God who created the universe. Among Israel’s Mesopotamian neighbors, creation was often thought of as an elaborate construction project in which one god used the carcass of another to fashion the elements of the world.

In the most famous of these stories, the Babylonian story “Enuma Elish,” the god Marduk uses the body of a defeated sea dragon to form the sky and the land, the rivers and the sea.

Even some biblical passages echo this language as the Israelites speak of creation in language their ancient neighbors would have understood (cf. Ps. 74:12–17; 89:6–12; Job 9:5–10). Like Genesis 1, though, Psalm 33 emphasizes the effortlessness of God’s creative work. God merely speaks and creation flies to obey His will.

With nothing more than a breath, the starry hosts are set in their places. The mighty seas are nothing more than a trifle to this God, a mere bottle’s worth of water to be stored for His own time and purpose.

God knows me. (Ps. 33:13–15)

While the psalmist extols a Deity whose creative greatness is incomparable, he does not describe a God who stands aloof from His creation. To be sure, he says God “looks down” from His heavenly throne and “sees” humankind; He “watches the inhabitants of the earth” and “observes their deeds.”

But the psalmist’s sight language also has a more intimate side. In verse 18 he insists, “Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,” and he expresses his confidence that God will deliver those “who hope in His steadfast love.” At issue for the psalmist is his assurance that God is not only great but also good. His is a powerful and creative God but He also is a God who knows and cares for humanity, one who brings happiness to the nation who claims Him as their own.

Jesus is central to all creation.

(Col. 1:15–17) 

The wedding of God’s exalted power over creation and His intimate care for creation is underscored by the New Testament’s emphasis on Jesus’ own role in God’s creative work.

In the first chapter of his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul declares that “all things in heaven and on earth” were created in, through and for Jesus. Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” who demonstrates God’s transcendent power as He creates, sustains and rules over all things. As the evangelist declares, “Through Him all things were made and without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).

But Jesus also is the visible proof of God’s passionate love for creation. Through His death, the same Jesus who created the world becomes the instrument of its reconciliation to God. “Making peace through the blood of His cross,” Jesus brings a fallen creation back to its loving Creator (Col. 1:20).