Genesis 2:7

Devotional
Adam had a body before he had life. God formed him from the dust. He had eyes, but they couldn’t see. He had ears, but they couldn’t hear. He had hands, but they couldn’t move. He had a heart, but it wasn’t beating. He had a body—but he didn’t have life. Until God breathed. That’s one of the most beautiful pictures in Scripture. Adam didn’t create his own life. He received it. He didn’t manufacture his own breath. He received it. And that’s still true for us. We live in a culture that constantly tells us to become independent. Build your own life. Create your own future. Find your own strength. Be your own person. But Christianity begins with the realization: I am dependent upon God. Acts 17:25 says that God Himself gives everyone “life and breath and everything else.” Think about that. Every breath you take is a reminder that you are receiving something you could never manufacture on your own. Your next breath is a gift. Your life is a gift. And spiritually, we are just as dependent upon God. We don’t need the Holy Spirit merely to have a religious experience. We need the Spirit because we need life. Jesus doesn’t simply want to improve the life you already have. He brings spiritual life where there was spiritual death. The Christian life isn’t self-improvement. It is Spirit-empowered transformation. So today, take a moment and breathe slowly. Then remember: That breath is a gift from God. And let it remind you that your spiritual life is also completely dependent upon Him.
 
Read the Context
Genesis 2 NIV
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Footnotes

1. Genesis 2:5 Or land; also in verse 6
2. Genesis 2:6 Or mist
3. Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).
4. Genesis 2:12 Or good; pearls
5. Genesis 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia
6. Genesis 2:20 Or the man
7. Genesis 2:21 Or took part of the man’s side
8. Genesis 2:22 Or part

 
Make it Personal

• How often do you consciously recognize your dependence on God?
• Where are you trying to live your spiritual life through your own strength?
• What would surrender to the Holy Spirit look like today?

 
Talk to God
Father, thank You for the breath in my lungs and the life You have given me. Forgive me for the times I try to live independently from You. Holy Spirit, remind me today that I need You—not just for moments in church, but for every moment of my life. Amen.