What is Man?

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalms 8:3-4

What a mighty God we serve. My heart is overwhelmed when I consider the greatness of God, His sovereign majesty, and the works of His hands. It is easy to look up at the stars at night and imagine He is somewhere out there in the great beyond, invisible to me. So large in fact that He can encompass the whole universe and hold the earth in His hand. At the sound of His voice, things came into existence. This vastness makes Him seem almost out of touch with me, according to my human way of thinking. How could God exist somewhere out there, and yet be interested in me?

Then I consider the small things of His creation. The tiny invisible bacteria, the small bugs, and microbes that most of us have never seen yet are a part of our everyday lives. Millions and billions of them live within us and around us, and God created them. Then there are the visible small things of His creation, the ants that are like a mighty army, the honeybees that work tirelessly, and the caterpillars which turn into beautiful butterflies. They all have a place in His creation. The termite, though an enemy to a house, is a great help when in the forest. The other detestable animals and birds, which help remove decomposing flesh are also part of God’s great plan. Suppose when things died, they did not decompose back to the earth? What a terrible place the earth would be.

God in His greatness created everything to work in harmony according to His plan. The cycle of life, and what it takes to sustain life. The changing seasons, the sun and the rain all are part of God’s provision for us. The earth runs in such perfection, that should it be any closer or further away from the sun, we would either bake or freeze, one of the two.

There are people who think this world with all its inhabitance and people, just happened from nothing. Now that takes a lot of faith in my opinion. Besides that, in their theory, if two things collided to begin a process of evolution, who created the things that collided? It is so much easier to believe in a great all mighty God, who created all these things.

It says in Genesis, that after God got finished creating the world and all of its amazing creation, that He formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life. See Genesis 2:7. If you read the account of creation, man was created differently than everything else. God took a personal interest in making the crown of His creation. I wonder how He did that. Did He come down and begin to dig some dirt, just the right kind, and form Adams body? As He created him, did He have happy thoughts of what He was doing and how much He enjoyed it? Did He consider all the functions that Adam would need to live; each bone, each organ and how each would move and help him live?

It’s easy to speculate that God just quickly put some dirt together and formed a man. In the next instant He breathed in the man’s nose and he came alive, much as He created the rest of the world. But suppose that it took all day for God to painstakingly create him. Suppose that as God formed Adam, that He knew the choices he would make, and tears welled up in His eyes, falling on the man He was creating, making the dirt sticky. He knew He needed to give man the choice to serve Him rather than to create him without a choice. However, He also knew because of that power of choice, His own Son Jesus would have to die to save Adam and all his posterity. Then imagine as the sun’s shadows were getting long, God looked at the man He had formed and said, “He is ready.” God gave a gentle breath, the man’s chest began to heave, his heart began to pump, and he sat up rubbing his eyes as though he had been in a long sleep. Then he rose to his feet, and began to walk, looking at everything around him. It’s hard to imagine what Adam must have felt like in those first few hours of life. And God, though invisible to Adam. stood and looked with pleasure at what He had created. Then He notice, although He already knew it would be this way because He had created him, that Adam was lonely. Here was this big, beautiful world, with all the animals to keep each other company, but Adam had no one to enjoy it with. This saddened God’s heart just a little that man was lonely. So, he put Adam back to sleep and did a minor operation, by removing one of his ribs. Then with that rib, and the same painstaking care He exercised in creating Adam, He began to form a woman for him to enjoy life with. I imagine as God was creating her that He would look over at Adam still asleep, and feel please to fashion this beautiful person, so when he would see her, he would love her. And likewise, as God formed this beautiful human, He placed in her the ability to love this man, Adam. She was in no way inferior or of less importance, but made to show the gentle, tender side of God.  I imagine Adam waking up and seeing this beautiful creation that God had made. And then, she also awoke. They looked at each other, and immediately felt the bond of love and joy. Perhaps Adam even helped her to her feet; who knows, I am only speculating; but they loved and cared for each other and neither were lonely.

Thousands of years have passed since that scene there in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Man made a choice to turn from God, so God sent His own Son to redeem him. Man has the choice to believe or not to believe in Him. We can even choose to believe God does not exist if we want to, even though that is false. However, our biggest challenge remains; to believe that God cares personally about me. We still grapple with God being so large, and we are so insignificant, that we struggle to believe His promises. It is hard for us to believe that the God who parted the Red Sea for the Children of Israel fleeing before Pharaohs army would want to care for me. It seems so far away and distant, and yet he does. He can part the sea of turmoil for us if He needs to. The God who turned the water into wine, can take the bitter water of our lives and turn it into something of exquisite beauty and value.

Our first step may be to take our eyes off of ourselves and start believing. Looking to God and taking Him at His word. Having faith in His promises. Asking Him to fill the void in our lives. Requesting that He come live in our hearts. Repent of our unbelief. His promises are true, and we can rest assured that He will fulfill them. And should you begin to question your value to Him, think of the interest He placed in Adam and his wife Eve, when He created them. He created them beautifully and placed them in a quiet, beautiful garden, where He came to talk with them in the cool part of the day. See Genesis 3:8. Of course, man made a choice that separated him from God, but that did not separate him from God’s love. As a matter of fact, His Word tells us that nothing can separate us from that love. See Romans 8:35-39.

If you are down and out and questioning God, take a moment to consider Him and count what all He has given you. You may be surprised that what you have taken for granted are indeed proof of His existence and personal care for you. The first beat of your heart, the first breath you took, are gifts from Him. Never forget; you may not believe in Him, but that does not mean He does not exist. It only means that you have made a choice not to believe.

When you come to know the Lord intimately, you will realize He is not an obscure being somewhere out there above the stars. You will come to realize how deep and personal His care is for you. The warmth of His love will prove that He is not cold and heartless. You will realize the miracle that this great and mighty God, is small enough to dwell in your heart and direct your thoughts. And your heart will be transformed from a cold angry place to a place filled with love. A changed heart, no longer full of stones of hurt and offenses, but full of the warmth of forgiveness and love. And you will not be lonely and empty anymore.