At Last!

Day 6 and the Invention of Man

Well, no more waiting.

It’s time for human beings to join the story of Creation. In today’s episode of Holy Ghost Stories, Yahweh scoops up the soil and makes someone He calls Adam.

Creation, part 9: Adam

First, a Psalm

In honor of this occasion, let’s take a moment to appreciate Psalm 8, a song about creation, mankind, and the place Yahweh’s given us in the world:

¹ God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.

² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

^5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

While we’re on the subject, here’s a great video from BibleProject:

Parallel Journeys

As you can imagine, I’ve engaged in quite a bit of meditative thought about Creation while researching and writing and narrating and scoring this Holy Ghost Stories series. There have been many delights and surprises along the way, but perhaps the biggest has been this: a consideration of Yahweh’s journey of desire regarding the creation of mankind.

You’ve heard me allude to it more than once throughout the series with language like “Something is…off. Something related to the pulsing wellspring of joy inside Him…” This desire (not just for companionship, but for partnership) goes unmet even as He joyfully brings all manner of plant and animal into the world. Then, at last, comes Adam. It all feels quite similar to another journey of desire in Genesis 1-2 we’re more familiar with: Adam’s longing for companionship, realized in Eve. I’ve loved coming to see Adam’s experience as something architected by Yahweh as an intentional parallel to His own. I also love imagining Yahweh sighing His own “At last…” when Adam blinks to life. (And given that Genesis 1 is a poem, I suppose it’s true that Yahweh’s joy gives rise to inspired art the same way Adam’s does in Genesis 2:23:

“At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”

When we told the Creation story on tour in Ireland, we tried to capture all of this in a really beautiful song written by my daughter Eve. The chorus then looks ahead to a time when we’ll all give voice to those words of longing-turned-satisfaction.

Verse 1:
Days account for thousands
In the eyes of heaven
Wonder after wonder will never cease
Love into creation
Light and darkness riven
A plan for beauty even more than this
And what could be more beautiful than this?

Chorus:
One day, ‘At last’
Will fall like water from the mouths of heaven’s hosts
’At last, At last’
Will be sung by the people that he chose

Verse 2:
Before the beginning
When love existed in Him
The plan arrived, reflection took its course
In the beauty of creation
He was left longing
For us to come and open up the doors

Chorus:
One day, ‘At last’
Will fall like water from the mouths of heaven’s hosts
’At last, At last’
Will be sung by the people that he chose

Deity going first, inviting humanity to follow on the trail He’s blazed—isn’t this always the way?

Beautiful Things

In this episode, you’ll hear me allude to this classic from Gungor:

An Invitation

Maybe it’s just me, but Yahweh inviting Adam to name the animals strikes me as quite tender and beautiful. I loved imagining it in this telling.

All Yours

As you listen, may you see Him more clearly and love Him more deeply.

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Thanks for following along with this series on Creation. If you’re enjoying it, consider leaving a quick review over on Apple Podcasts, won’t you?

Gratefully,
Justin

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