Do you think of yourself as a creative person? Maybe you sew or cook, garden or build, paint or make music. These are all ways we create things of beauty, or things to use and enjoy. However, we start with fabric and ingredients, seeds and wood, canvas and instruments. We can’t make something from nothing, unlike our own Creator.
The first five words of the Bible in Genesis say “In the beginning God created”. In Hebrew, the word for create is “bara,” used only for divine design, to shape, to fashion, to create. ‘Bara’ is used three times in Genesis the first chapter. The first time is for the origin of matter, “God created the heaven and the earth.” The next is the origin of life, “God created every living creature that moveth,” and third the origin of man’s soul, “So God created man in His own image.”
Only human life, by God’s divine design and plan, has His image. It is more precious and unique compared to any other life, worthy to be nurtured and protected.
What God spoke into existence in the beginning has continued to this day. The more we learn about the universe in which we exist , the more we marvel at the miracle of life. Amazing God that formed the planets and the stars, the seas and the mountains, also created our bodies with intricate physiology and with all the systems functioning as a whole. Our bodies move and breathe, think, see, touch and taste; performing processes every second, many of which we are not even consciously aware.
All of us have learned about the human body in school and some have gone further and studied in greater detail in preparation for a vocation. This knowledge does not prove the truth of God’s Word, but rather confirms our faith that only God’s divine design created life.
One such example is the protein laminin which is part of our extracellular matrix. Laminin are cell adhesion molecules, an integral part of the structural scaffolding of cells inside our body’s tissues and organs. Essentially it ‘glues’ one cell to the next and holds us together. Without laminin we would literally fall apart. This is amazing in itself, but then if you look at the molecular diagram of laminin – we see a familiar shape: the shape of a cross. God’s Word tells the story of creation, of choices and the plan of redemption He had from the very beginning. Psalms 139:14 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. In Colossians 1:14-17, it tells of creation and redemption, all part of God’s perfect plan.
The very powerful God who created us and knit us together in the womb, has that same power to redeem us and sustain us, and hold our lives together through His grace.
By R Trauger
