TEXT: Genesis 1:29-30

SUBJECT: Henry on Genesis 1 #11

Tonight, with the Lord’s blessing, we’ll move on in our study of Matthew Henry on Genesis 1. Henry was an English pastor whose Commentary on the Whole Bible is as edifying today as it was 300 years ago.

Thus far, we’ve studied God as the Creator of all things. On the first day of the creation week, He made raw material and in the hours and days that followed, He set it in order—starting with light on Sunday and ending with Man on the next Friday. The thought is staggering, isn’t it? In one week, the Lord made everything that was ever made. And everything we see around us was either made that week or descended from things that were made that week (except for sin and its consequences). With David, we cannot help praising God,

He’s right, of course, but not just the earth: the seas, the skies, the stars and the planets we can see—and those we can’t see—are charged with the wisdom, power, and mercy of God—of your God, the God you pray to, the God in Whose Name we’re meeting tonight.

Of the thirty-one verses in our chapter, twenty-nine praise God as the Creator. But here, in vv.29-30, He’s not creating; what He’s doing is providing for His creation. Henry says,

This, it seems to me, is a strong argument for taking care of things. It’s sad to see what some people do to their homes, cars, yards, and other things. They neglect them or tear them up by rough use. But God didn’t do this and He told Adam to "Keep the Garden". After the Fall, that became quite a bit harder, of course. I know it takes time and money or skills we don’t all have. My example, too, leaves much to be desired. But I can’t see how letting things go all to pieces can be pleasing to the Lord who cares for the creation.

Henry didn’t say that, but I thought it was worth putting in (even though it makes me feel guilty).

In v.29, Henry says, we have

Some of this is speculation, but it makes good sense and is probably true (though we mustn’t be dogmatic about it). By the command of God, Adam and Eve were vegetarians and the food they ate provided all the nutrition they needed—and posed no risk to their bodies or minds or souls.

There’s nothing wrong with being a vegetarian, of course, or with eating organic food, as long as you don’t make it into an Article of Faith or impose the Rule on others, or think (even in the back of your mind) that it brings you one inch closer to God. The Lord who gave vegetables to Adam and Eve, gave meat to Noah and his family, and tells us that

There is no God-given diet to believers under the New Covenant. And when people start hitting you with the vitamin thing or the Salvation by Garlic thing, gently remind them of it.

It’s best to remember that God gave us food—all kinds of food, often more than we need—out of His sheer goodness. From the verse Henry draws three applications:

The first is, be humble,

I never thought of this, but it’s a very sharp observation. Man is made in the Image of God and is appointed to have dominion over the whole earth. Yet this almost-Divine king is as dependent on the weather and the soil as a caterpillar! If those disgusting worms depend on plants to live on, then we do too! Living in the city it’s hard to remember that food doesn’t come from the supermarket, but from the land. And, unless the Lord keeps the earth fertile and sends rain and sunshine in their own turns, we’ll starve!

We’re as dependent on the land as the lowest animal is. That ought to keep us in our place.

The second use is be thankful,

We could spend hours on this one! "The Lord is for the body," says the Puritan. Yes He is! He made the body and He gives us everything we need to keep it alive—and not just to keep it alive—but to keep it happy.

He provides for our "necessities", but not only them. He also made food to look pretty, to smell good, to please the touch, to sound good, at times, and, of course, to taste yummy. Everything could be gray—but it’s not. Everything could have the consistency of oatmeal, but it doesn’t. Tasteless food could keep us alive; and what if your food smelled like a skunk?

Doesn’t the snap of celery make it taste better? Or the color of an apple? Or the smell of a ripe peach? God put all of these textures and colors and aromas into your food. Because He loves you.

Good food is the gift of God. At first He gave it to the whole human race, and had we not sinned, everyone would be well-fed today. But, of course, billions of people are not. They don’t have anything to eat, or not enough, or what they had was bad for them. We ought to pray for them and help them if we can. But, setting that aside for the moment, we also ought to thank God that we have more than enough to eat and what we have is good.

This is a lesson we should teach our kids. Kids are notorious for turning up their noses at good food or complaining about the same old thing. We adults are not wholly innocent either. But we need to drill our kids in thankfulness. To remind them that food is not a right, but the gift of God, and that we ought to eat what we have and be glad of it.

A friend of mine grew up on the mission field, among very poor people. From infancy, almost, he was taught to eat what was set before him—and a lot of it was pretty bad! Today, in his fifties, he told me, "I like the taste of everything". Another friend put it this way,

I hope you give thanks at the table. But more than that, I hope you mean it.

Henry’s third application is be content,

Contentment is just the quiet side of gratitude. Gratitude says thank you to the Lord and contentment is happy with what He has given.

I wonder if Americans are the greediest people in the world? If we’re not, we’re near the top! You can see it in our shopping habits, our loads of debt, even in our garage sales—as people clear out the old junk to make room for the new junk! We have more than any other people—far more than our grandparents ever dreamed of—yet we’re not satisfied. The things we’ve already bought haven’t made us happy, but we’re sure the next thing will.

No it won’t. Paul said,

For a time, Adam and Eve were content—and they didn’t even have the raiment! Most of us have far more than we need; we ought to be content with it. And to fine what we want in Christ.

And so, the Lord first provides for Man. But then He turns lower…

This is another great observation. The Lord takes care of the animals—and not just those that He needed for the sacrifices or man needs to plow with or ride and so on. No, even the wild animals—the ones we’ll never see—are well taken care of by their Master.

This shows the overflowing goodness of God. The lions don’t ask for food, but the Lord gives it to them anyway. The monkeys don’t tithe their bananas, but they still get them. Dogs gobble their food the minute they get it—and never save a scrap—yet the Lord keeps them well-fed.

From His generosity to animals, Henry assumes that He’ll take care of His children too. And that’s exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ taught us and is the only way to avoid worry.

That’s Matthew Henry on Genesis 1. From the twenty-ninth and thirtieth verses, let’s remember: (1) The Lord is the Provider of all we have (James 1:17), (2) we ought to be humble, thankful, and content with what He gives, and (3) if He even takes care of animals, we can trust Him to take care of us.