The uniqueness of man

I find it remarkable that in the whole creation, there is not another creature that God would cooperate with except man. Among all the creatures of this world, man is the only one that is set apart from the very beginning. He was created differently than the rest of other creatures in that it is the only one that was made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). Moreover, it is the only creature that was given a dominion assignment over all other creatures (Genesis 1:28). It is clear that God respects authority and He respects rules that He himself establishes. In Genesis 2, when Adam begins to name the animals of the earth, we see how God agrees with him on every name given by him (Genesis 1:19). This is the first establishment or enforcing of the command to have dominion and to rule over all creatures of the world. What is astonishing to me is the fact that God could have named those animals Himself, He could have worked the ground Himself or rather, made a world where the ground wouldn’t need to be worked. But He didn’t, instead, He created man so that man would work the ground and have dominion over all other creatures of this world.

Fast forward a thousand years later, God has not changed. He continues to respect the rules He put in place. For instance, everything that God plans to do on the earth is never done without the implication of man. The rule is quite clear, on the earth, man rules. Whatever needs to be done on the earth has to go through man. This must be one of the reasons God came in the form of man to redeem the world otherwise He wouldn’t have been successful and would have violated His own rule. This truth alone is incredible! What is so special about man that God would give him such authority in this world? It is a pity that we, being so special in rank and status before God do not capitalize on this great privilege. Even worse is for us believers – who have the very Spirit of God in us to live like we are orphans in this world. I pray we repent of neglecting the Spirit of God in our lives.

In the book of Exodus, I was taken aback by the privilege of working with God, or rather God working with man to accomplish His purposes. When God spoke to Moses and established His covenant with the people of Israel, one thing He told Moses was to build a tabernacle including the tent of the meeting as a place where He would reside and have fellowship with His people. In order to build this tabernacle including all its furnishings, God put His spirit in certain men (Exodus 31:1-11) who were able to design the objects exactly as God required. Everything was built exactly as He had instructed Moses. Years later, Solomon would build the temple of God just as God had instructed through David his father. Solomon may have had a horrible end of life but the bible is very clear on his accomplishment: he build God’s temple according to the will of God. You see the pattern, God has a plan, He tells man and man works with Him to accomplish that plan. Simply beautiful. When we read these stories, they seem simple but in reality they aren’t. They are simple to us because everything worked out but I bet you it required discipline, work and perseverance. No matter how long the work took, they kept at it. I cannot imagine the feeling of accomplishment that rushed through their members as they completed the work of building the temple or the tabernacle. The truth is, not many people can say they did what God had instructed them to do to the letter or at the very least say what Paul said “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7-8)”. Saying such a statement meant he knew he was serving God’s purposes by doing exactly what God had called him to do which in this case was the preaching of the good news to Gentile nations. Jesus too did exactly what he was called to do, as the Father required. Indeed, he came into this world, innocent and blameless to die in our place and he did just that even when it seemed too difficult a task to do (Matthew 26:39). He worked with God to accomplish God’s purposes.

I hope you are able to see that there is nothing that God does on this earth that does not require the partnership with man to be accomplished. If you see this great privilege we have been given as humans, do you now also see why it is so important for us to not waste the talents God has bestowed upon us? It does not matter the number of your talents, rather what matters is your willingness to cooperate with God to accomplish His purposes through you. The men (Bezalel and Oholiab) who built the items that were meant to be used in the tabernacle and tent of the meeting did what they came in this world to do and they did it with excellence. They did not sit on a talent that God had given them and wasted it like in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), no they went at it with all diligence and discipline. I don’t know what God has called you to do or be but I know for a fact that He gave you gifts and talents to be used for His purposes. I pray you do not neglect those gifts; I pray you do not get caught up in the size of your gift; instead I pray you submit yourself to God and simply be faithful in the task He would have you accomplish for His glory and your good. We are not privy to the complete understanding of what God does but we know He can be trusted. So let us rest in that.