GOD’s response to us…

we are made of dust. but notice GOD’s response to that fact.

psalms 103.13-14 (niv), as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear HIM. for HE knows how we are formed and HE remembers that we are dust.

GOD’s response is not ridicule. GOD’s response is not to devalue us. GOD’s response is compassion.

some of you have been really hard on yourself this week. you need to hear this verse and hear GOD say to you “I have compassion on you and I know that you’re made from dust but I’ve breathed MY life into you. I'm willing to pick you up again and I'm willing to strengthen you again for tomorrow.” i love GOD’s compassion in our lives, how powerful it is.

now here in the beginning of genesis GOD makes adam in HIS image. then HE gave him some important things and they all have to do with the fact that he was created in HIS image. they may seem simple but they’re incredibly important. they reflect the kind of responsibilities and opportunities that GOD gives into my life and into your life.  for one GOD gave to adam a garden.

genesis 2,8 & 9 (niv), GOD planted a garden [HE made a garden] in the east in eden. [eden means delight in hebrew.] there HE put the man that HE had formed. HE made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. [that doesn’t mean he created those trees when he did that. it just means he made them grow there. they had been created already in different places.] in the middle of the garden there was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

HE made a garden. and that garden was a GOD-given opportunity for adam to express GOD’s image. HE gave him an opportunity to express his personality, a place for him to be creative, a place for him to do things, a place for him to interact with GOD’s creation.

one of the most wonderful thing that he got to do at least in the beginning before eve came along was to name all the animals. would you have liked to have that job? there could be some fun things to it. “dog” and “cat” i can understand, but where did he come up with “aardvark”? how did he come up with those kinds of names? (i know he was naming them in a different language than english.) but just think of the creativity that was involved in naming all those things that GOD had made. GOD allowed him to do that. HE gave him the chance to express his personality, to make decisions, to think, to feel that he saw those things that GOD had made.

just a thought from the front porch…