Figuring Out Himself...

Please help us share God's truths and hope in Christ.

Gospel Hope Archive | Sign Up for Our Resources |

David posed the question within the context of his psalm,

“What is man that You are mindful of him . . . ?” (Psalm 8:4 – NKJV)

The TV program was dealing with the subject of men. It was a lighthearted comedy, yet within its dialogue it strived to deal with the male being. Why is he like he is? How are we to explain him? One person would quote one human philosopher and the next would quote a known figure of the psychiatric world. Back and forth they went, each one attempting to figure out why an individual, a particular man in this case, was as he was. Their end result was that they were unable to conclude as to the “why.” And they were unable to agree that their source or sources were not the primary ones to answer their question, if ever an official answer was going to actually be agreed upon, and of course . . . that was never going to happen.

The sad part of all of this is that, even though a situation comedy, absolutely no part of God and His Word entered into the back-and-forth of these individuals. And this is the ever-present omission that is so prevalent in our world of viewing in this day in which you and I live. It actually grieves my soul. Our world needs to hear from God! The opportunities . . . oh so many, yet secular minds and their godless rhetoric dominate that which is transmitted to us even through the venue of comedy programming.

As I listened to that which was being fed to me via the programming, I could not help but think of this text and the question it posed.

Of course we know that the modern psychiatric world, through a plethora of human attempts, continues to this day to strive after an answer to a portion of this lofty question posed by King David . . .

“What is man . . . ?”

They do so through their observations and writings, noting as their authorities on this matter such past individuals as Freud, Jung, Rogers, Maslow, and many others. Then or course there are the current day psychiatrists and psychologists and what they bring to the table regarding the subject of, “What is man?”

From a religious and philosophical approach, and for that matter, a scientific one, many have espoused their take on this subject, Buddha frames man in his manner of thinking, Muhammad in his, and of course philosophers have written a great deal, both past and present, in their attempts to explain “man.” The scientist? Well, not all of them but many, they speak as if it were a fact, that there answer to “man” is that he evolved . . . and from there they turn it over to the humanistic world.

Why is “man” like he is?

I believe an answer to this rather lofty question starts with the One who is,

“. . . mindful of him”

Man is the creation of God! He is not some complex product having evolved from some single-celled amoeba. Complexity from chance? Difficult concept to swallow, except that is, if the created thing has become detached from the Creator.

If this being the case, separation from the One who created him, “man,” within the way he determines to go, will pose the question yet never be able to answer it correctly. You see “man” has . . .

“. . . sinned and (he) falls short of the glory of (his Creator) God” (Romans 3:23 – NKJV)

According to the Creator’s manual, this sinful “man,” because of his “sin,” has suffered separation from the One who created him and because of this each and every “man” has, “like sheep . . . gone astray” and “turned to his own way.” (cf. Isaiah 59:2; 53:6)

Within his “own way” and because he is “separated” from God, the One who is “mindful of him” and knows all there is to know as to why “man” is like he is, the creation of God never ceases to attempt to answer the question,

“What is man . . . ?”

And until he is re-connected to His Creator, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Word of God, “man” will come up with distorted theory after distorted theory, distorted conclusions and distorted answers, in his futile attempts in . . . figuring out himself. And regretfully, the theories and conclusions and answers will find their way into the dialogue of current day media, and the “sheep” will continue to go “astray.”