 By James H. Cagle |
“Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments” (Psalm 119: 73 KJV).
Man was created by God the Creator of all things for Himself and for His glory. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139: 14). Man was God’s crowning creation for He made man in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth. The Psalmist in acknowledging the biblical fact that he was made by God, refutes the theory of evolution.
Man was also made to have fellowship with God. Adam was walking in fellowship with God until he sinned against God. Jesus died to pay our sin debt so that we today, through faith in Christ Jesus, are reconciled back to God and can through obedience to His Word walk in fellowship with Him.
When God made man, He made him with those capabilities that enabled him by faith to walk in fellowship with God. God disclosed Himself to man through general and special revelation, or through His works in nature and His written Word. God revealed Himself to man because He knew He made man with a capacity to receive His revelation and respond to it. One of those capabilities is man’s ability to reason. God has given Reason to man as well as Revelation because Reason is necessary for interpreting Revelation.
Reason is the power to think, to exercise the faculty of logical thought. The revelation God gave to man is a revelation of His Mind that gives to man His will and way, and reveals His character and Person. And man has a mind to receive this revelation that if man accepts God’s will and way as his own, can change his own character and person. The Words He used in special revelation have meaning and their meaning can be understand and reasonably and responsibly acted upon; either by rejecting them or accepting and applying them.
The Psalmist acknowledges the fact that God created him. By asking for understanding he acknowledges the fact that God and His will are knowable and that he is capable of understanding God and His will and learning how to live according to His commandments.
The Psalmist is seeking an education into the things of God because he wanted to know God and then live in such a way as to please Him.
How eager are we for this understanding and education and transformation that come from God?
