"Let..."

The language of Genesis 1 is interesting. What strikes me is how many times God says, "Let..."

If we were to read Genesis 1 closely and ask ourselves who or what created the plants and animals, we could potentially have two correct answers. God of course is the obvious first answer. But when we read the text closely we see that God said, "Let the land produce vegetation..." and "Let the land produce living creatures..." (vss 11 & 24)

So while God no doubt created everything, there is a sense we get from the text that he did so indirectly. God gave "the land" a certain amount of responsibility in the creative process. We know that the "Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" throughout the process of creation. But it seems as though he gave his own creation some freedom to be a part of the process.

This is how God is with us. We know that from conception God is "knitting us together in our mother's womb."(Jer. 1:5) Yet God doesn't just snap his fingers and make us appear. Instead, God "creates" us in the womb by using natural processes over time.

This is also how he interacts with us throughout our lives. He guides our lives and directs our paths. But he does this through the daily, ongoing "hovering" of His Spirit rather than some instantaneous neon sign in the sky.

This also seems to be how He created "in the beginning." This repetition of "Let..." in Genesis 1 seems to point to the reality that God didn't just make everything appear instantly. Instead, it points to His ongoing Presence working indirectly through natural processes that He Himself set in motion.

What's more is that science confirms this view of scripture through geology, nuclear-physics, astronomy and DNA mapping. Examining both Genesis and science together reveals that the creation process was one of gradual species modification over long spans of time rather than a seven day instantaneous event.