Creation

Creation

By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made,

their starry host by the breath of His mouth.

For He spoke, and it came to be,

He commanded and it stood firm.

Psalm 33: 6, 9

I have always been fascinated by the Creation story – the main narrative found in Genesis as well as the echoes found throughout the Bible.  I discovered a new telling of the story this week – one that I have never previously read – found in Proverbs 8:22-31.

The writer of this section of Proverbs pens a hymn of celebration, telling of the role of Wisdom in the creation of the world.  The story is a bit different from the one in Genesis:

The Lord brought me [Wisdom] forth as the first of His works,

before His deeds of old.

I was appointed from eternity,

from the beginning, before the world began.

I was there when He set the heavens in place,

when he marked out the horizons on the face of the deep;

when He established the clouds above

and fixed securely the fountains of the deep;

when He gave the sea its boundary

so the waters would not overstep His command.

And when He marked out the foundations of the earth,

then I was the craftsman at His side,

rejoicing in His whole world

and delighting in mankind.

*

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world,

He shines in all that’s fair.

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,

He speaks to me everywhere.

The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 144