“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:21-23
The LORD God created Adam from the dust of the ground. He made woman from a rib of Adam and brought her to Adam to be his wife — “an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18). As the Scriptures state: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24) — one new family unit — and this remains God’s purpose and design to this day.
We praise You, O God, for creating woman to be a helper and companion to man and for instituting marriage as the life-long union of a man and a woman. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised 1883 Webster Version of the Bible.]
“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 soul.” Genesis 2:7
The LORD God formed Adam’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul, alive physically, with a living, breathing body, and spiritually, knowing God and His will, and loving, trusting, and honoring God, his Maker. John’s Gospel tells us of Jesus, God’s Son, that “all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4). It was Jesus who breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life.
We thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for both creating us and giving us life, and for redeeming us by giving Your life in our stead when You died on the cross to atone for our sins. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Webster Version (1833).]
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26-27
The eternal God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — created mankind in His own image, meaning that man was like God in that he had a true knowledge of God and lived according to the truth God had revealed. As a result, man honored God as his Maker, trusted God, truly loved God, and sought to bring God glory (cf. Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). God also created mankind male and female and commanded them to reproduce and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28), meaning that the biological differences between a man and a woman are according to God’s creative purpose and design rather than man’s choice.
Grant that I recognize the truth, O God, and honor You as my all-wise Creator and my loving and merciful Redeemer. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
“You alone are the LORD. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve them all. And the host of heaven worships You.” Nehemiah 9:6
This prayer of the Levites, recorded by Nehemiah, confesses the truth that the LORD, the one true God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — created the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, and He still preserves them all. The stars and the universe glorify His holy name, showing His infinite wisdom and power in creating and preserving all things by the power of His word.
I, too, worship You, O LORD, and glorify Your name for creating this vast universe and yet loving me enough to send Your Son to suffer my punishment, die in my stead, and redeem me that I might look to You in faith, receive Your mercy and forgiveness, and praise Your holy name. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
“By faith we understand that the ages were set by the word of God, so that things that are seen were not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3
The ages, which include the universe and the world in which we live, were created and established by the Word of God at God’s command. He said, “Let there be …” and “there was” (Gen. 1). What we see and know today in this world and the universe was created from nothing and exists solely by God’s command and decree.
O Creator of all, grant us faith to believe Your Word and to trust in Your wisdom and power to create and preserve all things by Your command. In the name of Christ Jesus, the eternal Word made flesh to redeem us, we pray. Amen.
