God Is Personal

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

~Genesis 2:7~

When I was little and read verses about God creating the earth, I basically took it all for granted. "Yeah, yeah, God created the world, animals, and people, duh," was my attitude. "He's God." However, as I look back on the way I subconsciously imagined the creation process as I read the words, I realize I had a tendency to think of God in impersonal terms. The God of Genesis was more like the God I grew up thinking of whenever I actually did take a moment to think about God (which wasn't often). He was good and caring and wanted me to do good things, but He wasn't personable, not the kind of guy you'd sit and chat with for a long time. A quick, "Hey, I'll listen to your prayers and make sure you're OK, but I have a lot of other things to do," from Him was more of the attitude I pictured receiving from Him. 

Whenever I thought of God creating the world, I thought of "that Big Guy in space" hovering over the Earth and speaking things into existence. When He "formed man of the dust of the ground," I'd picture one of His giant hands reaching down from far above the ground and making a human. 

Still, though I thought of God creating the world in a "hands-off" fashion, it bothered me when Christians would argue that perhaps God had used evolution to create the world. For one, I thought "That's not what the Bible says, and if you can't believe one part, how can you believe the rest?" But the other reason I hated that idea was the fact that it made my God so...impersonal! 

"Jesus isn't like that. He's involved in every aspect of our lives. He came to earth to live and die for us; He physically spoke to and touched people as He healed and interacted with them. He wants a personal relationship with each of us. He's not 'hands off.'" 

So...why in the world did I let my "Genesis God" picture stay glued in my brain when my New Testament God was nothing like this? It didn't really strike me until today... creation is personal. Creation means God was there. Speaking. Touching. Physically. 

Genesis says that God walked in Eden with Adam. If He walked on Earth, He wasn't just some "Big Guy in the sky" for Adam. He was right there beside Him. Accessible. Personable. A friend. I like to picture Him walking alongside Adam like Jesus walked alongside the disciples. 

That made me rethink my idea of His creation of man, too. Sure, He used His voice. He is the Living Word. But...why this giant hand reaching out as if God is "too important" to get too close to us? Maybe He was standing on Earth as He did it, stooping to scoop up dust into His hands. Kind of like how Jesus stooped to write in the sand when He told the accusers of the woman caught in adultery that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Or like when Jesus formed clay in the dirt and used His hands to apply it to a blind man's eyes. He was hands-on there; He wasn't afraid to get "too close" or get His hands dirty. 

And He physically breathed the breath of life into Adam's nostrils, too. That's a personal creation. That's a God who cares enough to get close to us and be involved in our life. No careless tossing around of words or arms-length creation or involvement. That's a God who cares about every little detail of who we are. That's Jesus, and that's the God of Genesis. 

Creation shows the character of God. Watering it down to a distant creation or  a process of initiating evolution makes God distant. It doesn't do His character or His love and care for us justice at all. That's what bothers me about evolution and my "old way" of viewing creation, and I don't want to ever, even subconsciously, let myself think of God that way. I believe in a God who cares about every little detail of His creation...the God the Bible describes.