God graciously provided for
Adam and Eve by giving them the gift of food to sustain their lives. “Then God said, ‘I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit
with seed in it. They will be yours for food’” (Genesis 1:29). Animals and human beings are consumers. Our bodies must have glucose and other
nutrients in order to sustain cellular respiration. Without them, we would die. Plants, on the other hand, are
producers. They produce glucose and
other mono-saccharides through photosynthesis.
By giving us this renewable source of food, God graciously provided for
our lives here on earth. In a joyful
Psalm of praise, David glorifies God for this gracious gift. “The eyes of all look to you, and you give
them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires
of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16).
As we draw to the close of the
creation story we are told, “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” This is the second time that the word for
blessing is used, and once again it conveys the grace of God to mankind. God’s “rest” on that first day signified the
perfection of God’s work, complete and consecrated for the glory of its
Creator. But God knew what lay
ahead. He understood that perfection
would be short-lived, and that very soon rest would be hard to come by in a
world full of turmoil resulting from sin.
Therefore, He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a holy time
for sinful mankind to turn from their toil back to their Creator and rest in
Him. The one day of rest out of seven
would prove a tremendous blessing from God’s store of grace.
The brief, poetic account of the
creation of all things (including mankind) in chapter one, is followed by a
dramatic portrayal of the creation and fall of mankind beginning in chapter
two. The two accounts supplement each
other. Immediately, “God” (אֱלֹהִים elohim) becomes “the LORD God” (אֱלֹהִים יהוה yhwh elohim) because the
Creator God (elohim) is also the Covenant God (yhwh), and this account of the
creation and fall of mankind underpins the entire concept of the covenant
throughout the whole Bible. This account
demonstrates God’s desire to live in a loving personal relationship with
mankind, and the need for redemption in light of the fall into sin, in order to
restore that kind of relationship between God and man. Thus, even the use of the name “the LORD God” is a sign of God’s grace.
Verses
four through six contrast the incompleteness of creation before mankind with
its wholeness, once mankind is introduced into it. Verse seven portrays God’s
work of creating the man (Adam) in a very loving manner. “The LORD God formed the man from the dust
of the ground” in the same way that a potter lovingly fashions a formless lump
of clay into an exquisite work of art.
Then God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being.” The intimate
connection between the Creator and His creation as He brings him to life is a
visible demonstration of the love God has for mankind. The very gift of life comes directly from the
breath of God. Could there be any more
loving act on God’s part to begin the close personal relationship that He
desires for us to have with Him? And what
gift could anyone possibly receive that would be more gracious than the gift of
life itself? There is nothing Adam could
have done as an inanimate lump of clay to deserve life. Freely, graciously God gives the gift that He
alone could give—the gift of life—the gift that sadly, Adam would forfeit
shortly, because of his sin. But in this
verse we see grace and grace alone.
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