Genesis 1-2:2

I feel content, lacking anxiety or discomfort concerning relationships, at the moment. I assume that is because of God--I don't know why, I just give credit to Him. Therefore, I feel like I should do something to show my thanks, so I prayed and read chapters 1 and the beginning of 2 in Genesis. I haven't done this in a while, both praying and reading the Bible. I had trouble praying, because I didn't know what to think about when I prayed. I didn't want to just send my prayers into the sky, I wanted something concrete to think of in my mind to direct my prayers towards. So I tried to imagine a person (Jesus) sitting on the edge of my bed. The real Jesus, not American Jesus; so, I started thinking about a middle eastern looking person, but I kept picturing Mihir, which I found humorous. Eventually I just gave up trying to think of what to think about and just prayed. From what I've heard about God, I think He's fine with that.

During my reading of the first several chapters of Genesis, I had some questions. First, it depicts God creating. Why did He create? What had he been doing before He created (I doubt we can know the answer to that, but I still need to ask)? And most importantly, what did God gain from creating? How did He benefit?

Secondly, it says in verse 26 that God said he wanted to "Make humankind in our image, according to our likeness." What does it mean to be in the image of God, to be his likeness? All we know about God so far is that he creates, he can tell a difference between "good" and something else, and that there is more than one part of God. Does it mean we have traits like Him, that we posses something that He does?

Then, in verse 28, He tells man to "subdue the earth." How does one subdue the earth? The definitions of subdue essentially say that one takes something that is existing in a way that is different than the captor/possessor/keeper/whatever and makes it like itself (itself being the captor...whatever thing).

Finally, in the second verse of the second chapter, it says that God rested. Why does He have to rest? Does God get tired? "You are the everlasting God/you do not faint, you won't grow weary"--not according to this, Chris Tomlin! I guess one would have to ask, what does it mean to rest? Does it mean sleep, or just sit there, or go run a marathon, or talk to someone?

I just read the Bible and I have a lot of questions, but I don't feel like I learned anything or gained any knowledge. I don't feel like I'm any closer to figuring anything out. But I don't feel bad. Strangely, I feel content. Maybe it's numbness or indifference. I can't tell.