Our Intimate Creation

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 being. (Genesis 2:7) 

There is an infinite and eternal bond between human beings and our creator God. If you are familiar with the Genesis account of creation, then you know that God spoke nearly all things into being—light, dark, sun, moon, stars, land, sky, sea, plants, land animals, insects, birds—all by His mighty words, “let there be.” And it was so. 

The pinnacle of God’s creation, however, was made differently than all else. God said, “Let us make man in our image.” Imagine, if you will, God standing upon His newly created earth. He scoops together some dirt and forms it into the shape of a human being. Like a clay creation, it has no life. But then God does something extraordinary: He raises the lump of clay into His arms and with his mouth He breathed into its nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

The creation of humankind is deeply personal with God—intimate.

God could have spoken us into being, as he did the animals, for example. But he didn't. When He created the other creatures, he gave them instincts for survival and let them go to live, reproduce, and die. They have no personal awareness of self or God; they are not sentient. He did not create them in His image, nor did he purpose to have fellowship with them. In fact, he gave their stewardship to the man he had just created: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

Why, then, did God create us differently? To have fellowship with us. He wants to interact with us. He wants to be a Father to us. And so God took a personal approach to our creation, forming us and then cradling us with His own hands and breathing life into us with His own mouth.

In those times when you may feel alone in this world, cut off and distant from God, I hope you will remember your intimate beginnings in Him.  "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)