The Bible doesn’t begin with God making everything out of nothing. It begins with God creating peace out of a mess.

In the beginning, God created the sky and the land. Now, the land was formless and empty, darkness was on the surface of the deep abyss, and the Spirit of God was hovering over these waters.

Genesis 1:1-2

God created out of land that was untamed and uninhabitable, wild and waste, disorganized and deserted. God created out of a deep, churning abyss of dark chaotic waters.

God formed a mess into a good Garden with no broken, missing, or out-of-place parts. It was shalom. Peace.

Peace with God: Adam and Eve depended on God to provide and protect, trusting him to be a good father and faithful friend.

Peace with each other: Adam loved Eve more than anything else God had created. They were naked together and not at all embarrassed, afraid, or weirded out by it. They loved each other just the way they were.

Peace with themselves: There was no regret, comparison, or competition.

Peace with creation: The world wasn’t too warm, or too cold. No hurricanes, floods, wildfires or earthquakes threatened their lives. Trees and vines fed them. Springs and rivers quenched their thirst.

No missing, broken, or out-of-place parts. God created perfect peace out of a mess.

But you know that peace didn’t last. Trust was broken by rebellion. Marriage was broken by blame. Innocence was broken by regret. Adam and Eve fled the Garden into a wilderness they had to plow, plant, and weed just to survive.

Generation after generation told each other the story of how God created peace out of a mess in the beginning. And they believed he’d do it again in the end.