He leads me …

Psalm 148:5–13 (AMPC)

 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].

Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps!

You lightning, hail, fog, and frost, you stormy wind fulfilling His orders!

Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!

Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers and judges of the earth!

Both young men and maidens, old men and children!

Let them praise and exalt the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted and supreme! His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven!

 We may read this psalm and wonder how mountains, fruit trees and cedars praise the Lord. It is not as if they will suddenly break out and sing Handel’s Messiah. No, they praise the Lord by simply fulfilling what they were created to be.

 We see too that people are mentioned as an integral part of God’s creation. Not so that we see ourselves better than the rest of creation or that the rest of God’s creation may be inferred as higher than mankind, but that the human’s dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26, 28) is intended to be a partnership for the good of all creation and ultimately to give the glory to God.

 Just as each element of creation honours God best by existing as created, so humankind can best fulfil God’s command by living as God created us to live.

 So what have we been created to do?

 Would it make sense if they put on dead man’s tombstone: “He came, stayed a while, and left”? That is really rather sad. But would it be any better if it had said, “He came, stayed a while, got married, had a job, raised three children, and left”? Perhaps even add in, “He had a successful career and became wealthy.” While this may be success for some people, it is missing the purpose for which God created him.

 So why did God create people? It is to know and to grow to be like the Lord in whose image we were created. We are to reign with Him; and to be used by Him in the development of His kingdom. We will never be really happy and fulfilled unless we begin living in line with God’s purpose for creating us[1]

 The apostle John, tells us that. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” (1 John 4:16). We see in the first part of this verse how important God’s love is to us. In the second part we see that as we live in love, so God lives in us. This means that the more we become like Jesus, the more perfectly loving we will become towards God and to others. So it is clear that we are created to love.[2]

 In the Old Testament God calls us to “Be holy, for I am holy” (Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8). We see the apostle Peter repeat the same call in 1 Peter 1:15-16. To be holy means that we have been set apart by God's grace for God's purpose. We are no longer part of the kingdom of our success and happiness, but we are now part of the Lord’s kingdom of glory and grace. And we are part of God’s purpose wherever we are, whoever we are with, and in whatever we are doing.

 To summarise, the opening chapter of the Bible, Genesis tells us that we are made “in the image of God” (Gen 1:27). God made man in His image, so that mankind’s dominion over the world and in filling the world with more people would show forth the likeness of God, who has ultimate dominion. This is not an elevated role so that humans can become arrogant and self-governing, but rather that the Lord’s people would work with Him and would reflect His glory.

 Because God’s fundamental nature is love, He expects us to love sincerely too. This happens over time during the process of sanctification as the Holy Spirit guides us to become more like Jesus. Remember the two greatest commandments that Jesus referred to?

 During His earthly ministry Jesus was once asked, “Sir, which is the most important command in the laws of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: ‘Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them.” Matthew 22:36-40 (TLB)

 This is what we have been created to do. How we fulfil our purpose on a day to day basis is worked out between God and us through a personal relationship. The successful outworking of what the Lord does through us to bring light into this dark world, is dependent on how much we are prepared to be obedient to what He calls us to do.

[1] Why God Created People (Genesis 1:26-31), by Steven J. Cole, Bible.org; https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-4-why-god-created-people-genesis-126-31

[2] We Are Created to Love by Chris Webb,  Chris Webb is a Benedictine Anglican priest, author, speaker and teacher dedicated to helping people experience a richer walk with God by growing in prayer and the spiritual life. He has degrees in Planetary and Space Physics from the University of Wales, and in Theology from Trinity College, Bristol.