Mere Humans
“Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and he said:
‘Whoam I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have alsospoken about the future of the house of your servant- and this decree,Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human! What more can David say to you? For youknow your servant, Sovereign Lord. For the sake of your word and according toyour will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is noGod but you, as we have heard with our own ears.’” -2 Samuel 7:18-22
Welive in an age where humanity is supreme. Science boasts of our power overnature; the arts display our unique creativity. Every day, news of new records,new inventions, new physical and intellectual feats proclaim mankind’slimitless potential for progress. We live in a modern-day Babel, where secularhumanism has told us that we can do anything.
Thesedeeply-ingrained beliefs are what keep humanity striving towards bigger andbetter. Yet they are also at the root of the frustration, disappointment, andnihilism that pervade Western culture. Our society is simultaneously obsessedwith the pursuit of utopia and constantly let down by our inability to attainit. Deep down, we all know that something is wrong with the world as we know it—with the suffering, division, corruption, and dysfunction that stain our dailylives. And yet, we continue to uphold faith in humanity for a solution.
Throughoutthe Old Testament, David demonstrates a very different view of humanity. Whilehe was king of God’s chosen people, David understood that to be human is not astate of greatness but a state of frailty. His prayer in 2 Samuel 7 is one ofincredible humility, as he acknowledges that all of his success in leadershipwas because of God’s sovereign power on his behalf. He is reverent before theLord, who has provided abundantly for David, “a mere human.”
InPsalm 16:1-2, David upholds his view of humanity’s insufficiency in light ofGod’s divinity: “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say tothe LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’”
Iwonder what the world would look like if we all lived with this view ofhumanity— if we dropped any pretense of limitless potential or power andrecognized our fragility instead. I’d wager that reconciliation and peace wouldabound. Generosity would overtake selfishness; love would replace hate. Why?Because in weakness, we are forced to look outside of ourselves for a solutionto brokenness. In weakness, we are driven to dependence on Jehovah for allrestoration.
TheNativity is a story of God’s provision for our brokenness. Amazingly, it tellsof God— the One wholly outside of mankind’s fragility— entering intohumanity and becoming like us. The incarnation is a paradox of utter Goodnessand Power becoming frail flesh, and thus, Jesus is the perfect solution to theworld’s deepest pains. His death and resurrection sealed all promises ofrestoration, and the Holy Spirit is at work building a Kingdom far greater thanany Babel we could construct.
InJesus, we see that the solution to earthly division and dysfunction is grace—the unmerited, free, and abundant favor of God. When we accept His free gift ofsalvation by believing in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, we are made right with God;when we extend this grace to those around us, we are made right with oneanother. The only barrier to grace— the reason the Gospel is so hard for theworld to accept— is that it is premised on man’s inability to solve the world’sproblems. To accept grace is to implicate oneself as part of the problem, toaccept utter inadequacy before God and others.
AsDavid proclaims in the passage above, there is so much freedom in acceptinggrace. Acknowledging our inherent frailty may sting at first, but it is anecessary precursor to receiving abundant life in Christ— life that is farbetter without the delusion of self-sufficiency. Relying on God’s sufficiencyreleases us from the endless cycles of false hope, disappointment, anddisillusionment that come from elevating ourselves as the solution to the world’sissues.
While we must acknowledge our inability to fix our own brokenness, God’s grace has allowed humanity to become a part of His solution. For when we accept God’s grace, part of the abundant life that He offers is a call to participate in the building of His Kingdom. We cannot solve the world’s problems in and of ourselves, but God empowers us to take part in His divine solution by participating in the Great Commission. We may be mere humans, but in God’s grace we are humans equipped by His Spirit to do eternal work.
ThisAdvent, may we be reminded of our inherent weakness, insufficiency, andinadequacy. May we acknowledge our humble status before God and rejoice at Hisgrace— grace which led Him to enter into human frailty as an infant to save usfrom ourselves. Let us praise Him for being wholly outside of our brokennessand intimately familiar with our pains. Finally, let us thank Him for allowingus to take part in the restorative work of building His Kingdom.
AnaYee ’21 is a junior in Kirkland House studying the History of Science.