3-23-2018

Good Morning All,

         Genesis 2:7; “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”    

        There is always something interesting in making something for yourself.  It really doesn’t matter what it is; it might be a book case or a pie or a piece of pottery; we enjoy making things with our hands.  Some of us find it therapeutic and relaxing.  Making something with your hands gives you far more satisfaction that just going out and buying something like it instead.  Using your hands tends to bring out a sense of purpose and comfort.  It is like the carpenter.  You know that you are watching a true carpenter when they get to the end of the project.  Before they declare it done, they take their hand and gently run it up and down the finished project.

    As we look at our verse, I hope you notice how God is addressed in this passage.  Here, and in the rest of the Bible, when we see God called “the LORD God” this refers to God’s proper name as “YAHWEH”.  This is the name by which God introduced himself to Moses the “I AM the I AM”.   YAHWEH is the Redeemer of Israel; this is the Name by which God personally rescued the children of Israel from Egypt.  The thing that I want you to keep in mind is that by this name” YAHWEH” is the “hands on” God. 

    Notice how creation is described.  The LORD God formed the man and breathed into his nostrils.  YAHWEH got his hands dirty forming you.  He formed you out of the dirt and then placed his mouth on that dirt and breathed into a life, a living creature, a soul.  We can take so much comfort in this.  YAHWEH isn’t a distant God who is averse to being near us.  YAHWEH is a “hands on” God.  He gets into our dirty lives and breathes new life into them. 

    When we hurt or fear or are lost, YAHWEH is there.  He is there getting his hands dirty to redeem you.  Think of Jesus, God in the flesh.  He walked on dirty roads, he touched the skin of dirty people looked into the heart and soul of dirty people and made them whole; he made them clean.  God comes to you and picks you up out of the gutter and lifts you up with his loving arms into his bosom to hold us near and dear to him. 

   As we go through life, we will face a lot of unpleasant things.  We face the pain of broken marriages, lost children, angry parents, family dying way to soon or maybe watching one die way too late but God gets his hands dirty for you to give you hope.  There is nothing dirtier than death on a cross; yet Jesus, our Redeemer, did just that.  He did it because he loves you and if getting dirty is what he had to do then getting dirty is what he did.  We do not have to think that God doesn’t understand my life; he truly does.  That is why Jesus became a “hands on” person who died a “hands on” death.  He did this so that you and I could keep our “hands on” eternal life.

Dearest Father, you reached down into my life at times when I felt that no one could or that no one cared.  You saved me from the wretched pain of the devil and his snares.  Continue to guard me with your Spirit and protect me this day.  In Jesus name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret