by Kelley Pounds
We all know Genesis gives the account of God's creation of the universe, planet earth, and everything we see in nature. From Genesis 1:1 to 1:25, God is speaking, forming, naming, and creating order from chaos: separating light from darkness; separating waters from dry land; setting in motion time as we know it by establishing seasons, years, and days; creating all the vegetation and animals. He even provides these living organisms with a tiny seed of His own creative nature in the ability to procreate more of their kind.
Each time a new creation leaps forth from God's mouth, He pronounces it good. Imagine the Great Composer close to completing His magnum opus, His great work, resting for a moment as He admires His creation thus far. Then, inspired once more, He jots down the final notes in a symphony. Everything up to verse 26 has been created for the benefit of human beings, whom the Grand Maestro has created for relationship with Him, and whom He has created in His image—or in a small sense, in His kind.
And to us God gave ". . . dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Gen. 1:26, ESV).
Dominion. Many hear only a negative connotation: the relationship of conqueror to conquered. But think about the great honor and responsibility God has bestowed on us. Imagine Leonardo daVinci within a few brush strokes of completing the Mona Lisa telling his least experienced apprentice, "You finish her. I think her mouth needs just a tiny tweak for that enigmatic smile." Yet that is exactly what God did when he gave Adam dominion over the natural world, complete with the right to name the animals, enabling this fledgling human, this mere apprentice, to evoke amazing power with the spoken word. And think about the baby boy born millennia later in Vinci, Italy, who grew up to be a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, cartographer and writer. Do you think the original Old Master created this Renaissance Man knowing he would one day paint The Last Supper?
Dominion also requires a sense of order and purpose, as well as the ability to go beyond training or instinct in order to make decisions based on reason, consciousness and abstract thought. These abilities are what set us apart as creative beings in the likeness of God. Anyone who has studied Picasso understands the concept of "abstract thought." And a chimpanzee can create and use a simple tool, but humans embellish their tools into works of art that are not only useful and decorative, but may also display spiritual significance.
Though not exactly a tool, the Ark of the Covenant is as a prime Biblical example of a useful creation that is also a work of art. Representative of God's throne and footstool, the Ark was also made to house the stone tablets of the covenant and to accept the blood sacrifices of atonement. The Bible even tells us the name of the Ark's chosen creator and how God gifted him: ". . .the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri . . . and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship" (Exod. 35:30-33, NIV).
Imagine yourself as Bezalel, entrusted with the creation of the Ark of the Covenant. Imagine sanding the acacia wood until it feels like satin beneath your fingertips. Imagine the painstaking attention to detail as you craft the cherubim, how the soft gold glows in the firelight of your forge. What an honor that must have been! Bezalel was likely one of the few men to ever touch the Ark and live. What if he had decided he wasn't up to the task? What if, in human conceit, he had decided there were other gifts more important than the creative ones God had given him?
Dominion also implies sovereignty and free will. In our sovereignty and free will, we can choose what to create—good or bad—and we can choose our creative media based on the materials God provides in our natural world. In our sovereignty and free will, we can also choose not to create at all, but who are we to deny the honor of being apprentices to the Master?
Kelley Pounds grew up in a family of writers, artists and inventors. She's a graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Art Instruction Schools, and she is the author of one published novel and one novella. In the midst of changing genres to write something more in tune with her interests and Christian beliefs, she took a wire wrap jewelry class, and something clicked. Though she may get back to her fiction writing someday, for now she's enjoying life making mixed-media art jewelry as the "Chief Creative Officer" of Kell's Creations .
We all know Genesis gives the account of God's creation of the universe, planet earth, and everything we see in nature. From Genesis 1:1 to 1:25, God is speaking, forming, naming, and creating order from chaos: separating light from darkness; separating waters from dry land; setting in motion time as we know it by establishing seasons, years, and days; creating all the vegetation and animals. He even provides these living organisms with a tiny seed of His own creative nature in the ability to procreate more of their kind.
And to us God gave ". . . dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Gen. 1:26, ESV).
Dominion. Many hear only a negative connotation: the relationship of conqueror to conquered. But think about the great honor and responsibility God has bestowed on us. Imagine Leonardo daVinci within a few brush strokes of completing the Mona Lisa telling his least experienced apprentice, "You finish her. I think her mouth needs just a tiny tweak for that enigmatic smile." Yet that is exactly what God did when he gave Adam dominion over the natural world, complete with the right to name the animals, enabling this fledgling human, this mere apprentice, to evoke amazing power with the spoken word. And think about the baby boy born millennia later in Vinci, Italy, who grew up to be a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, cartographer and writer. Do you think the original Old Master created this Renaissance Man knowing he would one day paint The Last Supper?
Though not exactly a tool, the Ark of the Covenant is as a prime Biblical example of a useful creation that is also a work of art. Representative of God's throne and footstool, the Ark was also made to house the stone tablets of the covenant and to accept the blood sacrifices of atonement. The Bible even tells us the name of the Ark's chosen creator and how God gifted him: ". . .the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri . . . and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship" (Exod. 35:30-33, NIV).
Imagine yourself as Bezalel, entrusted with the creation of the Ark of the Covenant. Imagine sanding the acacia wood until it feels like satin beneath your fingertips. Imagine the painstaking attention to detail as you craft the cherubim, how the soft gold glows in the firelight of your forge. What an honor that must have been! Bezalel was likely one of the few men to ever touch the Ark and live. What if he had decided he wasn't up to the task? What if, in human conceit, he had decided there were other gifts more important than the creative ones God had given him?
Dominion also implies sovereignty and free will. In our sovereignty and free will, we can choose what to create—good or bad—and we can choose our creative media based on the materials God provides in our natural world. In our sovereignty and free will, we can also choose not to create at all, but who are we to deny the honor of being apprentices to the Master?
Kelley Pounds grew up in a family of writers, artists and inventors. She's a graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Art Instruction Schools, and she is the author of one published novel and one novella. In the midst of changing genres to write something more in tune with her interests and Christian beliefs, she took a wire wrap jewelry class, and something clicked. Though she may get back to her fiction writing someday, for now she's enjoying life making mixed-media art jewelry as the "Chief Creative Officer" of Kell's Creations .