Sunday 1st January
Read Genesis 1:9-13
“And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground ‘land’, and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.”
Having a career as a soil scientist, some people may have heard me comment that ‘Dirt is what you wash out of your clothes, but soil is the stuff of life’. Whilst I say this to raise the status of ‘soil’ from mere ‘dirt’ it is grounded (pun intended) somewhat in scripture.
On the third day Yahweh called forth soil (v9) and from that soil, life and fertility. Vegetation, herbs and fruit were called forth from the land, but also animals (v24) and humanity (Genesis 2:7). All terrestrial life is linked to the soil. Perhaps that is why when a life is taken, the ‘blood calls out from the ground’ (Genesis 4:10). The fertility with which creation is imbued is not something to be worshipped as a god like the nations around them but is part of the fabric of life – established as a principle by Yahweh.
It is no coincidence that when Jesus seeks to explain the principle of God’s kingdom he turns to soil to illustrate His point (Luke 8; Matthew 13). All of which is grounded in God’s word on the third day. The psalmist picks up on these links when praising God’s righteousness and majesty. Consider the translation from The Message below and pray that God would plant light and joy in your ‘heart-soil’!
“Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people,
Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.” (Psalm 97:11) (The Message)
