A Beautiful Beginning
Who Is God? What Genesis 1 and 2 Reveal About the Creator
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and right now more people are buying and reading it than they have in over two decades. But more Bible sales have also brought more Bible confusion. People are hungry for answers, but many don't know how to read Scripture in a way that actually makes sense. The key is understanding what the Bible is really about and who it is really about.
What Is the Bible Actually About?
The Bible is not a self-help book. It is not a lucky charm, a horoscope, or a collection of random stories about kings and wars. It is not primarily about Moses, David, or any other human figure.
The Bible is about God. He is the main character. Every story, every book, every passage exists to reveal who He is and what He is doing throughout all of time.
If you had to sum up the entire Bible in one sentence, it would be this: the Bible is the revelation of a God who refuses to give up on a wounded humanity, coming close to us through Jesus to make all things new.
Why Do So Many People Get Confused Reading the Bible?
One of the biggest reasons people get confused is that they read the Bible through the filter of their own life, their own problems, and their own questions. They jump from passage to passage looking for something that applies to them today, and they miss the larger story happening underneath it all.
There are two stories happening simultaneously in Scripture. There is the upper story, which is what God is doing across all of time. And there is the lower story, which is what is happening in the lives of individual people, Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and others. The lower stories matter, but they only make full sense when you see the upper story connecting them all.
The key question to ask when reading any passage of the Bible is not just what happened, but what is God doing here?
Starting at the Beginning: What Genesis 1 and 2 Tell Us About God
Genesis chapters one and two are where most people begin when they pick up the Bible. And most people immediately get stuck asking the wrong questions. How did God create light before the sun existed? Were these literal 24-hour days? How does this fit with science?
Those are understandable questions, but they cause people to miss the most important question of all. The most important question in Genesis 1 and 2 is not what, how, or why. It is who. Who is behind all of this? When you start with the who, the what, how, and why become far more manageable.
Here are five things Genesis 1 and 2 reveal about who God is.
1. God Is Sovereign Over All Realms
The very first words of the Bible establish something foundational: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Not in the beginning God was created. Not in the beginning God began to exist. God was already there before anything else existed.
This means God has all-encompassing authority over everything, both the physical and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible. Nothing existed before Him. Nothing is above Him. Nothing overwhelms Him and nothing can overthrow Him.
As theologian J. Vernon McGee once said, "This is God's universe and God does things His way. You may have a better way, but you don't have a universe."
No matter how dark or confusing the stories in Scripture get, and no matter how uncertain life feels, God is always winning. His purposes cannot be defeated.
2. God Is Present and Active in All Circumstances
"The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." - Genesis 1:2-3
Before anything existed, before light or land or life, the Spirit of God was already there in the darkness. And He was not just present. He was active. He spoke into the darkness and turned on the light.
This matters deeply when you read the harder parts of Scripture, and when you walk through the harder parts of your own life. Being in the dark does not mean God is absent. He is always present and always active. God does some of His best work in the dark.
3. God Is Good and Right in All He Does
"God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." - Genesis 1:31
After each day of creation, God looks at what He has made and calls it good. After everything is complete, He calls it very good. This is not a coincidence. Everything God does is good because God Himself is consistently good.
When something in Scripture seems wrong or confusing, the deficiency is not in God's character. It is in our limited understanding of what He is doing in the larger story. We tend to overestimate our own goodness and underestimate His.
4. God Delights in Holy Moments
"So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation." - Genesis 2:3
On the seventh day, God did not just stop working. He blessed the day. He called it holy. He delighted in what He had made and invited humanity to rest with Him in that delight.
Throughout all of Scripture, God continues to call people into sacred moments and holy spaces, not to work for Him, but simply to be with Him. This is why gathering together in worship matters. It is a reflection of something God established at the very beginning of creation.
5. God Desires to Be With Humanity
When God created the Garden of Eden, He did not just build a habitat for humans. He built a place where He could dwell with them. He created mankind in His own image, male and female, and placed them in a garden designed for relationship and communion with Him.
The story of the Bible begins with God dwelling with humanity in a garden. It ends with God dwelling with humanity for eternity. Everything in between is the story of a God who never stops pursuing the people He loves.
Reading the Bible Through the Right Filter
One of the most common mistakes people make when reading Scripture is projecting themselves onto God. When we feel angry, we assume God is angry. When we feel alone, we assume God is distant. When we are confused, we assume God does not know what He is doing.
But God is not us. He is far better than us.
Dallas Willard described God this way: "Undoubtedly, God is the most joyous being in the universe. Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through His being."
And Augustine, reflecting on his own journey to faith, wrote: "Late have I loved you, O beauty, ever ancient, ever new. Late have I loved you."
It is never too late to know this God. Today can be your beautiful beginning.
Life Application
This week, before you read a single passage of Scripture or face a single hard moment in your day, pause and ask one question: who is God in this? Not what is happening, not why it is happening, but who is present, who is active, and who is in control.
Choose one chapter of the Bible to read this week, and as you read it, look specifically for what it reveals about God's character rather than what it tells you to do or how it applies to your situation. Let the who shape everything else.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
When life feels dark or confusing, do I genuinely believe that God is present and active, or do I assume He has stepped back?
Am I reading the Bible to find information about myself, or to encounter and know God more deeply?
Which of the five characteristics of God from Genesis 1 and 2 is hardest for me to believe right now, and why?
What would change about how I face this week if I truly believed God is sovereign, present, good, delighted in me, and desires to be with me?
