Praying to a Creative God
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1)
One of the first things we learn about God in the Bible is that He is creative.1The fact that “creativity” is not listed as one of God’s attributes in many systematic theologies says a thing or two about common theological methodology, but that’s a point for another post. He makes things. He created this universe out of nothing. And not only is He powerful enough to make everything we see, He is also creative enough to think it all up.
God thought up galaxies and neutrons and red blood cells and the small intestine. He thought up chickens and lobsters and platypuses and chameleons. He designed the periodic table of elements and the northern lights and the water cycle and the migration patterns of birds. He made tall oak trees and red strawberries and wheat that changes from green to gold and flowers of a million different colours and patterns.
God didn’t need to do any of this. He could have made a universe functional and boring. But the fact that He created what He did shows us that He is creative.
As humans created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), we see His creativity reflected in us as we create. We paint, puzzle, plan, parent, produce, and perform because we can’t help but make things like our maker. Authors and moviemakers build whole worlds, children snap together building blocks, and thoughtful adults arrange furniture and artwork to make a home. Made in God’s image, we see the Creator reflected in each one of us.
God’s creativity is surely reason for us to praise Him. After describing some of God’s multi-faceted creation, Psalm 104:24 exclaims, “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”
But beyond this, God’s creativity is also a reason for us to trust Him. Ephesians 3:20 refers to God as “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” God’s ability surpasses not only our capacity to ask, but even the boundaries of our thinking—which includes our imagination.
When struggles and trials stump us, we so easily imagine that God is stumped too. As if our problems are His problems. As if He can’t figure this out just because we can’t figure this out.
But God is the one who not only thought up the giraffe but also designed special valves in its neck to maintain consistent blood pressure to its brain, so that as it bends its head down to drink its brain doesn’t explode from the blood pressure in its neck, and as it raises its head up again it doesn’t faint from orthostatic hypotension. God is the one who not only designed the woodpecker, but gave it a tongue that wraps around its brain to protect it from otherwise-fatal shock as it hammers away for insects. God not only built you, but gave you an incredibly complex immune system that right at this very second is protecting you from harm in ways you’ll never be aware of.
This God is able to do more than we can ask or think. And if you know Him, haven’t you experienced this time and time again? How many times has God surprised you with an answer to prayer you never would have anticipated? How many more times will He do the same?
This means we can trust Him with our requests. We can cast our cares on Him (1 Pet 5:7), and leave them there, knowing that it is an infinitely creative God who hears our prayers and cares for His children.
