Gen 2 – “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” Feb 21/10
Genesis is a story of beginnings. It’s His story. God’s. It is also a story that includes us. We have a part in this tale. The question – what is our part to play? What role did the Author of life & faith intend us to live out?
David, the warrior-poet of Israel, caught a glimpse of it all when observing God’s relationship with him. In Psalms 139:14 David declares –“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” Every time we take a glance in the mirror we have reason to praise God. We are creatures that are distinctly, special made. It’s a fact that our soul’s know well.
Genesis 2 revels four things about God’s intention for us: Masterpieces, Home, Purpose, Family.
Gen 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. “
Jehovah (יְהֹוָה), “the existing One,” literally breathed into us His Breath – which in Hebrew is another way of saying Spirit. We are this crazy fusion of Dust + Spirit. And in it all we are declared his “masterpieces.” David will catch on to this in Psalms 8 when he points out that we, who are just dust, are “crowned w/glory + honor.” We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!
God prepared for His chief creation/expression a good place, a Home. God placed Adam in the garden of Eden, literally the Garden of Pleasure (v8-14). It was a sweet spot. A place for enjoying, relating with God, and playing out our lives. But it wasn’t just a place to be idle. God prepared a perfect job for Adam (v15-20). In short it was to be a king (Gen 1:26-28).
Yet despite this good set up, Adam needed help! And not just any help, but in need of a perfect helper. He simply couldn’t do the good work alone! I believe this has to do with the fact that Adam was created in the “image of God” (Elohim = think Trinity). If God is in “community” within the Trinity, don’t we who are made in His image also need to be in community? We are built for “we” & “us”… built for community. Life is not meant to be lived alone!
What a wonderful role God laid out for us to play…. and how sad it is that we have decided to rewrite the Script. We screwed it all up – messed up His art, forsaken His home, forgotten His good work for us, and struggle in holding together the “we’s” in our lives. We are a broken and bent people. Actors without a clue what comes next.
Yet, in Jesus we see God made flesh. A God who seeks to restore all things. To shape us back into being His people and breathing His Spirit into our lives. We get a hint at this restored role in Eph 2:10 “We are God’s Workmanship (=masterpieces), created in Christ Jesus to do Good Work (=beautiful, pleasurable tasks), which God Prepared (…He is setting it all up) in advance for US (in community)to do.”
Check out this great video on the same theme:
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