Where did we come from?

Where did we come from? There is one obvious answer, we came from our parents. We owe our lives to the fact that a living seed from our fathers join­ed with a living seed from our mothers. That was our beginning. It took time for us to grow. The first nine months of that time took place within our mothers. Then we were born. We can sometimes tell that we belong to our parents by looking at our hair, eyes, and color features that are like theirs. Sometimes we even look like our grandparents; then, again, we are not like anyone we can remember in the fam­ily on either side. Is that where we came from? Yes, of course, but there is much more to this matter of living and being born than one can see by looking at a baby. Not that babies are not wonderful, everyone is a marvel: eyes, ears, heart, lungs, arteries and veins, all working to­gether like a team under a captain. And that idea should set us to thinking. Is it simply a happy coincidence that our minds and bodies work as harmoniously as they do? Or is there some directing force behind it all? When you come to think of it, all the marvelous development of the human frame and the incredible ability of the human mind must lie in these two cells from which we started. What is the power by which these two cells first join together and then develop until they have formed the whole of the creature known as the human baby? The cell is wonderful, but the power which in some way guides the work that goes on is more wonderful still.

The Bible talks about these things in a way that is both instructive and beautiful. Speaking of those first nine months during which a baby is formed and cared for within the mother, the Bible says: “Thou knowest not . . . how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child . . . (Ecclesiastes 11:5). We confess our ignorance. We do not know the secret behind the living fac­tory in which a baby grows. But king David helps us in our understanding of some of these secrets. He asks us to look at this great process as part of the work of God which He carries out every day. Listen to David while he thinks aloud about his own beginning: “For . . . thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fear­fully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret … (Psalms 139:13-15). Let us notice how David speaks of this living miracle as the work of God. In our language, the power, the mind behind the cells from which the baby is formed, is God Him­self. He is the Designer of the method. The blueprint is His. More than that, it is God’s power which keeps the whole process going.

Now, let us think again for a moment. We have come to the threshold of one of the rooms in the house of wisdom. Shall we cross the threshold and go inside? Here we are. We will exchange a few thoughts with wisdom. I suppose most of us have met our grandfathers and grandmothers. Not many of us have met our great-grandparents, and as for great-great and great-great-great grandparents, they seem to be lost in history All the same it is quite clear that we could keep on going back, tracing where we came from. That, of course, is why so many Americans travel to Europe on vacations. There are roots in Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ger­many and other lands from which the great tree of the American people has grown. But could we keep on going back forever? Or was there a time when the human race began? The Bible is very plain about this, and without going into great detail as to how the intricate parts of man were first formed, tells us clearly hat God started the process:

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; ale and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen­esis 2:7). “. . . In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them . . .” (Genesis 5:1,2).

There is much to learn here. God is the beginning, and all life came from Him. He was the purpose behind the first man and woman. They were His creation. Man was formed from a strange mixture, dust of the ground and the breath of life; that is, from the earth on which he lives and by a living force from God. There is something else that we should notice. Right at the beginning, when we spoke of someone being like his mother, father or grandfather, we all knew just how true that is. But what does the Bible mean when it says that the first man and woman were made in God’s likeness? We do not think the likeness lies in anything to look at with the hu­man eye (though angels have a form very much like ours), it lies in the great possibilities of the human mind: love, joy, worship, righteousness, sincerity, faithfulness, and a host of other qualities. But to go back for a moment. If God made man, then man belongs to God. If man depends upon God for everything, even life itself, then man should be thankful and show his love for God. Do we think about that? Do we live thank­fully? Do we acknowledge God’s power, God’s blessings and His ever-sustaining arm? We should do so; in fact, and this is a deep thought which we can carry about with us for a day or two and work out its meaning, a man who does not think about God cannot possibly be us­ing his mind as God meant him to do. He is neglecting something, he is missing something, he is losing an opportunity. It reminds us of the day when a famous scholar went into a monastery on Mount Sinai. He found the leaves from an old book. The monks said they had used some to make a fire. The scholar had a look at them and discovered they were pages written by hand. They were priceless, one of the oldest copies of the New Testa­ment in the world today! And they were using them for keeping warm! Some people do that with their minds. They use them for all sorts of little things, sailing boats, driving cars, watching tele­vision, and forget to think of the God of the mind, and to worship Him. We must make good use of our mind, we must use it as God intended. We will never regret it.

This is the kind of advice the Bible gives on the subject:

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth . . .” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

“. . . feel after God and find Him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being . . .” (Acts 17: 27,28).

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee” (Psalms 139: 17, 18.)

This is the beginning of the way to the understanding of life and getting the most out of it. How can we go wrong if we think about the Mastermind, the One who is the mainspring of every­thing? Let us spend a minute or two before we go to sleep each night in think­ing about the majesty and wisdom of God. Let us call the stars to mind, the migration of birds, the movements of the seas, the seasons of the year, the little seeds from which great things grow.