There’s an order to the days of creation, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Not only does this order teach us something about God’s thought process, but more practically, it helps us recall Genesis 1 by memory.
Here’s the trick: Instead of viewing the first six days in linear sequence, think of them as two sets of three. They pair as follows:
Day 1: God separates light and dark; names them day and night | Day 4: God fills day and night with the sun, moon, and stars |
Day 2: God separates the waters, creating the sky between | Day 5: God fills the water with fish and the sky with birds |
Day 3: God separates dry land from sea; the dry land sprouts vegetation | Day 6: God fills the dry land with land creatures who eat the vegetation |
For the first three days, God separates. He spends the next three days filling those separate domains.
This separation → fill dynamic makes so much sense. I relate to it when there’s a lot going on in my head. Maybe it’s a big project I have to tackle, and a million thoughts are pulling at my attention. If I just hover over this swirling mess, dwelling on it without taking action, it’s chaos, and I feel anxious. Overwhelmed. Not present.
The best thing I can do is sit down and write out what needs to be done. A simple list of bullet points is sufficient. The key is separation. On a piece of paper, I can separate one thought from another, which establishes order and clarity. I can look and see that it is good. But it gets better, because I can then go back and “fill” those things with action. I can address this, then satisfy that, so on and so forth. It works great!
Of course, there are other applications. For instance, when Paul says we’re a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), his language is shaped by his thinking in Torah. He has in mind the creation of the world, a process in which God introduces order through separation, then fills those spaces with new life. In my experience, Jesus starts by organizing: some activities He wants gone; some periods of time he wants set apart. More of this; less of that. Move this up; move this down. What is He doing? He is separating to create space He can later fill.
Think about what He told the Pharisees: “You want to kill me because you have no room for my words” (John 8:37). Suffice to say, a space must be made for His words before His words can fill you and I with life. Separation → fill.
I continue to draw strength from these ideas. And I would encourage you, the next time you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed, imitate God’s creation process. Separate your thoughts on paper, then go back and take them each in turn. If you do this, I believe you will find rest at the end of the day. If nothing else, use the pairing shown above to remember the progression of Genesis 1. It’s a great way to help kids remember what God did on each day of creation.
