9.27.9 – And God Created Man

Psalm 8:4
What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (ESV)

Genesis chapter 2

The Psalmist asked a question that mankind still wonders about and debates today. What is man? See, some people think man is no different from the animals and of no more value. Some think of man as being the “end all and be all” of everything, with infinite capabilities, even to being some sort of god or supernatural being.

Where is the truth in the matter?

Who hasn’t looked out on a starry night, or across a vista like the Grand Canyon, and suddenly felt really small? Or, who hasn’t looked at something they’ve accomplished and felt almost invincible. What are we really?

Here, in this passage, where we read that man was formed of the “dust of the ground”, does that mean we are no better than some little thing made by a kid in the backyard? You may have read before that, scientifically, each of is made of less than $20 worth of chemicals. If that’s so, why is a human life more valuable than anything else that sells for $20?

Look at what happened in verse 7, one of the most incredible sentences ever written:

the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (NIV)

You ever play with Play-Dough, or clay, or even snow and form a man (or woman)? And maybe as a child you even played with that creation. Since you had formed it of your own hands, maybe it had a place in your heart even greater than your Barbie doll or your GI Joe. You talked to it and pretended it talked back.

Pretended.

I have seen some pretty impressive sculptures. Sculptures that looked like real people standing in the museum. Real enough to make my jump. From the kid’s sculpture made from clay, to the Barbie doll, to the incredibly lifelike sculpture in the museum … they were all missing something. None of them were alive. And none of us have the ability to make them come alive.

Yet, that’s exactly what God does with his clay sculpture. Moses says God breathed his breath into the nostrils of the man and the man became a living being. Some of you have taken a CPR course. And some of you may have even had to use that training. I imagine it’s an incredible feeling when the person you are ministering to wakes up and breathes on her own.

Who, here, can do that to a mannequin, or even a dead and cold body? None of us.

Yet God takes man and turns him, in a moment, from a creation into a being capable of creating. The verb here (yatsar in Hebrew), formed, is used elsewhere in the OT for a potter molding something out of clay. (Once again, whether the thing being formed is a cup for a king or something of less noble usage, it is all made on purpose.)

“The breath of life”. No longer will man be just a thing. There’s no indication in Scripture that God breathed his breath into anything else. Now, his body has become a living thing and his soul has life and immortality.

What’s this mean? We were created and pronounced “good”. We were given God’s very breath. We have, then, the potentiality of divinity. Not deity, but divinity. We are humans and there’s no way to make us into deities. However, look at …

2 Peter 1:4
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (NIV)

When I read that it struck me. I began to ask myself, “What do I call ‘divine’?” Of course, the first usage that comes to mind is in describing the opposite sex—but in an over-the-top, sarcastic way—“Isn’t she just divine?” What did it really mean? I think of something being divine if it’s something that came from God, like a divine pronouncement. Scripture is divine.

Peter is saying we can participate in the divine nature! We can be divine! How? Because it’s what we were meant to be!!! We messed it up when we sinned, but through the blood of Christ we can be washed clean.

Notice, that’s a propositional statement. Nothing that I can find in Scripture indicates that God washes those who don’t want to be washed.

He’s willing to do all the work—he already has done the hard part—but he waits for our submission.

God created our physical body. He breathed life into us that we might have a spiritual body. For now, as we breath (just like our Father!), we need our body. God created us to be a dual creature. And both bodies need to be taken care of.

Maybe the Psalmist was getting old. Maybe he wondered why God was mindful of someone whose legs were faltering, or eyes were growing dim. I’ve been reading some biographies of the Presidents over the last few years. You know something that 39 of the 44 had in common? They all died. Maybe the Psalmist was looking around and realizing that everyone—from the king to the pauper—eventually faces death. So why would God be mindful of such as that?

Romans 8:18-21
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (NIV)

God is mindful of us because this body he created for us is just a temporary shell. God is mindful of us because of what we can become.
Look at what God did for the first man he created: he created a helper (and helpmate). God didn’t want him to be alone. Now, how many of us have heard that God created man to be a friend of God. Almost as if God is lonely? Or, maybe it’s just that God is so immense and has so much in himself that he just wanted to share it with someone who had never experienced it.

Look at what else God does all the time. Does he form full-grown trees or does he start with acorns? Does he form full-grown lions or does he start with cubs? Does he form full-grown humans or does he start with babies? Maybe you’re wondering whether God created Adam as a full-grown man or as an infant. Maybe you’re wondering if Adam had a belly-button (and, if so, why?). These make for interesting speculations but may be immaterial.

See, I had always pictured in my mind that God created Adam and Even for companionship for his divine self and, that first day they walked through the garden together, he had it. Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe God planted the seed of that companionship in Adam and Eve and it first started to come to fruition in Enoch. Little bits of the plant grew in Elijah, and Abraham, and even David—the man after God’s own heart. But it took the sacrifice of his son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to finally allow any man (or woman, for that matter) to be the divine friend of God …

… the friend we were meant to be! The friend we were created to be!

What do I DO with this?

Sin is always the choice of self over God. Science calls us homo sapiens which, literally translated, means “wise man”. The sin nature tells us to choose self, first. The breath of God, if we will listen to it, tells us to be wise men and submit to the Creator. Only there will we find freedom.

What did Jesus mean when he said, “Take this cup away from me”? What did Jesus think he might accomplish if given his own way? Maybe he could have beat back the Romans. Maybe he just wanted to preach some more. Maybe he, as so many of us have thought, was thinking, “I just want to be happy.” Jesus, knew, though, that such happiness was shortlived. Jesus wasn’t so short-sighted as to settle for happiness. He was shooting for joy. So he said, “Not my will, but thine.” Most of us have things we want, for ourselves, for our families, and for our church. When was the last time you dropped all those wants and asked God, “What do YOU want?”