Question 5: What else did God create?
Answer: God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.
God does all things in wisdom, and that means every facet of creation has been designed by him for some purpose. As his creatures, we flourish when we live according to his design. When we rebel against his design, we find ourselves fighting against the fabric of reality, leading to frustration and, ultimately, destruction. This is one of the main points of the book of Proverbs.
Think of Proverbs as a training manual for wise living. It is a book that shows us, through short, pithy sayings, how various aspects of reality work and how we can submit to the order God has established in order to flourish in God’s world. The key to living in wisdom is to begin with the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7), for it is only by respecting the authority of God to order this world according to his will, instead of trying to bend it to our will, that we can live rightly. Biblical wisdom flows naturally out of our doctrine of creation, for it is by recognizing God as Creator and Ruler of this world that we come to see that he is the one who defines all that is good over against all that is not.
Suggested passage for family or personal reading: Proverbs 3:5-6. What does this passage teach us about living wisely in God’s world? Look up other verses in Proverbs (especially from chapters 10-31) and talk through the principle of wisdom that each individual proverb teaches.