What is Man?
What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?
Job 7:17–18
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What is Man?
Often times people who only see the good side of things are accused of putting on rose colored glasses. Job is not one of these people. Just the opposite. In his current state of existence, he can see only the bad which has befallen him. One can easily understand this, everything he had, exempting his life, has been taken from him. He openly questions why God even cares at all. “What is man?” Job asks, that the Creator of the universe would care what he does. Don’t you have better things to do God? Job seems to be asking. In other words, leave me alone and stop punishing me. And when we think of God as only a cosmic task master this is often the reaction we get. Yet when God is rightly view through His most characteristic attribute, love, we have a whole new perspective. We see how much God actually cares for us, that He doesn’t ignore us or concern Himself with other more “important” things. When viewed this way, we come closer to understanding the depth of God’s love, as He sent His only Son to die for us lowly creatures. So the answer to Job’s question, “What is man?” is that he is someone created in the image of a loving God, who gave up His life for us, defeating sin, death, and the devil, so that we might have a relationship with Him. Knowing God is love David is inspired by the Holy Spirit to reframe Job’s question.
“[W]hat is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:4–8)
Job 7:17–18
+
What is Man?
Often times people who only see the good side of things are accused of putting on rose colored glasses. Job is not one of these people. Just the opposite. In his current state of existence, he can see only the bad which has befallen him. One can easily understand this, everything he had, exempting his life, has been taken from him. He openly questions why God even cares at all. “What is man?” Job asks, that the Creator of the universe would care what he does. Don’t you have better things to do God? Job seems to be asking. In other words, leave me alone and stop punishing me. And when we think of God as only a cosmic task master this is often the reaction we get. Yet when God is rightly view through His most characteristic attribute, love, we have a whole new perspective. We see how much God actually cares for us, that He doesn’t ignore us or concern Himself with other more “important” things. When viewed this way, we come closer to understanding the depth of God’s love, as He sent His only Son to die for us lowly creatures. So the answer to Job’s question, “What is man?” is that he is someone created in the image of a loving God, who gave up His life for us, defeating sin, death, and the devil, so that we might have a relationship with Him. Knowing God is love David is inspired by the Holy Spirit to reframe Job’s question.
“[W]hat is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:4–8)
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