Man of the Hour

The Man God Made

Yesterday, the World commemorated the International Men’s Day. The theme was Zero Male Suicide. It was an attempt to bring to the fore the male folk and the issues that are pertinent to them. It is not surprising that Male Suicide rates are on a steady upward trend. It is most concerning – certainly, all cases of suicides are.

However, I do not intend to pursue that line of thought, rather the intention is to write to the men about being a Man.

[4] These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

[5] And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

[6] But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

[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.

[8] And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:4-8 (KJV)

There is quite a lot to unpack here, however, I’ll mention only a few points (this is an attempt to do a recap of the work of creation):

When we read the account in Chapter One, we get a distinct sense that plants and vegetables showed up in the roster on the Third day, and man on the Sixth day.

In the Second Chapter, more light is shed on that. We find that there were two major considerations for the blossoming of the earth. The first is rainfall. The second is a Man, a man not to harvest, but to till.

And this is true, for the earth to blossom, we need the input of the heavens and the diligence of (a) man in tilling. Tilling is crucial to being a man. A man who can’t till, can’t come into partnership with the heavens. It is serious work. It is necessary to work. It is a man’s work. (Selah).

Who is this Man? In verse 8, we are told. He is a man that God has formed. And this is the heart of the matter. God only does business with the Men He has formed.

A Man is a formed construct. He was designed to be a clear reflection and a distinct delegate of God on the earth. He was supposed to be an ambassador, and under-lord, a supervisor of creation. The second chapter of Genesis is proof of this.

God had no hesitations in putting the Man he had formed into the garden of Eden to work it. The idea of work was God’s idea for man. God was willing to pause some expressions of creation so that he could put them at the instant of a diligent man.

If you are a male reading this, or a female with significant males in her life, note this: God desires to form men. Only the men He has formed can carry His signature. Be wary of a man that God has not formed.

The pressures of this world seek to deform men. A common message sent to men is that they are expendable. They are cheap targets of attempts to weaken their resolve and mental fabric. They are told they are not needed. They are measured by the size of their wallets.

Dear Man, faint not. You need not give in to these forces trying to shape and define you. God desires to form you. And there is no end to what God can do with a man He has formed.

God’s picture of a man consists entirely of a man he formed. To put it differently, God is the maker of men. Find your way back to the source and allow Him to do a complete work.