Journeying in Genesis: Honoring God’s Breath With Ours

“When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up — for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 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.” Genesis 2:5-7

God used material He had already made to form the first human. In fact six of the elements God created make up about 99% of our bodies. Around 60% of a living human body is water. As the Creator spoke things into being, the making of man appears hands on and intimate. In fact reading of man being formed from the dust sounds a lot like a potter and his clay.

God didn’t leave this creature inanimate, but breathed right into the the nostrils He had thought to create. With the breath of life, man became a living creature.

In Ezekiel 37 dry bones become human bodies, but don’t live until the breath comes. We see a warning in Daniel 5:23b as a Babylonian king uses his breath foolishly, “And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.”

May we use the breath He’s given us for His praise and glory! Lord, breathe life into our passion for You, our service to You, our families, our churches, our communities, and our nations!