A Word for Today
What is Man?
The Psalmist David proclaimed, “What is man that thou art
mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visits him. For thou has made him
a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honour. Thou
has made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou has put all
things under his feet.”
What a classical description of who man is. It outlines what we may call the Creative
Chasm. God, the angels, man and the
beasts of the field. Man in other words has a direct linkage, nay, lineage to
God.
The Book of Genesis tells us that man was made in God’s
image, that is to say, man was made to reflect God, and one of man’s God given
attributes is intelligence, reason. In other words man is a rational being, and
so it is understood that knowledge of God is by rational intuition.
Accordingly, the irrational man does not and cannot know
God. He lacks the rational intuition that lights his path that leads to God;
and walking in the dark he stumbles and falls. He is like a man groping in the
dark with no oil in his lamp, or, assuming there is some oil, has not the wit nor
the means to strike a match.
King Solomon says, to summarize the entire matter, “fear God,
and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”
A noted philosopher tells us not to be misologists, that is
to say, haters of reason; for he says, “Let us not let into our hearts,
gentlemen, the idea that there is no soundness in reason, but know that we
ourselves are not yet sound, and strive like men for reason.”
Your Creator, not I say, “The fool says in his heart there
is no God.” To know God, you must be the rational created being that God made
you to be. The animals know not God, beings irrational being like irrational
men.
Finally the Word says, “He that comes to God must come
believing that God is, and is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek Him.”
Again it is speaking here about the rational man.
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