Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” (Mark 10:15). To the mind of the modern man, who stands atop millennia of human knowledge and achievement, this might be the most daring challenge of Scripture. Can we divest ourselves of the wisdom of the world, our pride and our critical analysis, and receive the kingdom of God with a childlike understanding? Do we dare believe the truth is so simple?

Like few other passages of Scripture, Genesis 1 has been convulsed by a tide of scholarly analysis intent on complicating what is beautiful for its simplicity. By some, it is contorted to agree with the latest scientific trends. By others, it is hopelessly complicated by superimposed literary paradigms. Still others find the only key to the text in comparisons to other ancient literary traditions. Very much of the commentary surrounding Genesis 1 has become far removed from the simplicity and clarity of the text itself and is written with the main purpose of staking out a position in an ongoing debate.

As a professor of Old Testament studies, I have felt a certain pressure to keep up with this ever-developing line of scholarship. But as I teach through the book of Genesis year after year, I am more convinced than ever that the creation account is best read in the spirit of Christ’s words in Mark 10:15. It is not meant to be a puzzle for the scholars to solve, or an academic riddle in search of a complicated answer. Genesis 1 was composed by Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that God’s people would understand how He created all things and believe in this miracle of creation with childlike faith. Simplicity is the hallmark of truth, if childlikeness is the hallmark of saving faith.

This is not to say that Genesis 1 is simplistic. It is a rich text with a great depth of meaning to explore, yet its essence and power lie precisely in its clarity. Gregory the Great famously compared Scripture to a river in which a lamb can wade and an elephant can swim, meaning there is a depth to explore but also an inherent plainness (often called perspicuity). Gregory’s analogy does not posit two categories into which Scripture is divided, but two qualities that all Scripture has. There is perspicuity, but there is also depth, wherever one turns. The creation account has a great depth, but the elephants that swim there sometimes get too far from shore, and some lambs dare not wade for fear of drowning. I encourage my students to wade into the shallows, rejoice in the clarity of the water close to shore, and not fear to tread a little deeper, but never pretend that they have found the bottom.

Childlike faith in the great miracle of creation is the point in which all believers are included in the great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11:3. This work of God is meant to instill within us a sense of wonder that we are to carry with us in life: a sense of wonder and amazement over fundamental things—the fact that we are here, the fact that the world is beautiful and intricate, and the fact that the heavens are more vast than we can imagine. This is all the handiwork of God, whose power to create, and whose eye for beauty, are far beyond our highest thoughts.

It is this sense of wonder that refocuses our minds toward the adoration of God and lifts our thoughts toward heaven. It is this sense of wonder over creation that helps us to lead real and thoughtful lives, as God’s people, full of adoration and appreciation for His might and glory. A sense of wonder over creation goes hand in hand with the instinct to worship. Wonder is complemented and completed by worship.

The Psalms are full of this sense of wonder over creation, which comes to fruition in worship. “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions” (Ps. 104:24).

With childlike amazement and heartfelt praise, the psalmist teaches us the right use of the doctrine of creation—he has a sense of wonder that leads him to worship. Therein lies the application of Genesis 1. Creation is not simply a doctrine to be studied or a battle to be fought—it is something to be seen, felt, and wondered over. With all its beauty and mystery, it leads us to higher thoughts of God and greater adoration for Him. When God created the heavens, He did not design it to be a mute canopy over our heads. He designed the heavens to declare His glory, according to Psalm 19. We, for our part, must be careful to see and hear that declaration—to be in God’s creation, to enjoy it and be a thoughtful part of it, to meditate upon it and be surprised by it, and, in turn, to worship God because of it. This is to understand and apply the first chapter of the Bible. If anything, Gene-sis 1 should lead us to childlike faith in the one who is the “firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15).