As a teenager, we experienced the “Hippie Age” or better known as the “Love Age” or “Flower Power Children”. Young people abandoned their families, huddled in groups, some having one man and a few women, living in parks or abandoned buildings, not working, shabby clothes, beards, guitars, adorned with flowers in their hair and around their necks. It was a sign of timid rebellion against authority, be it of parents or a boss and certainly against the authority of the state. From memory, it was not long lived, but resembled something like “Woodstock” of the 1960’s in miniature form.
When people are not groomed into the need for law and order by their parents, school teachers and the government, they easily slip into a lawless way of living. It might not be as radical as Woodstock or the Flower Power Children, but in the heart, organized authority is rejected. People generally do not like to have rules governing them and people over them. Although initially, the rule in Genesis chapter 1 is over the animal kingdom and over the planet itself, it starts with rules and authority … and it is God who put it into place, not man! Please read again:
Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
4) This human being is created to rule. The concept of ruling over all animal kingdoms comes from the following two passages …
Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Ge 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
From these two verses we learn that man in to rule over … v26 … sea creatures, sky creatures, domesticated animals and wild animals … and v27 … sea creatures, sky creatures, every living creature that moves on the ground. Yet strangely it does not say “the earth”. This comes later in:
Ge 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
(1) Rule is another characteristic of the likeness of God. God rules and now under His authority man is instructed to rule.
(2) Rule include protection, provision and production. He must look after the animal kingdoms, grow them, watch over and care for them, protecting them from all sorts of harm and danger.
(3) All the earth and everything on it belongs to God:
Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
This means that man’s rule requires responsibility and accountability as he is a steward over God’s possessions.
(4) The words “dominion” (meaning “trample down” or “to master”) and “subdue” (meaning “to knead” or “to tread” implying stepping down on) shows us that God’s intent is that man work the land and the animal kingdoms. The key word here is “work”. Flowing out of this concept is organization and diligence.
(5) Man is to rule under God and for God as His vice-regent. Man is a governor … not Lord. The assets under his rule belong to God and need to be carefully protected so that when the day of stocktaking comes, he is able to provide a proper account. As God worked in creating, showing systematic order and creativity that was pleasing in His sight, so man’s duty is to work creatively and intelligently to show the true owner good yields. “No planting coins in the sand”. God wants a harvest.
(5) We have to face reality here. Post the fall, throughout all ages and to our age, we have not been good stewards of what belongs to God. Certainly we live in a technological era with just about everything computerized … yet we are not good stewards.
(i) Air pollution. Do we need to let the non-Christian world remind us of our responsibility to look after the air we breathe?
(ii) Sea creatures. It is true foreign fishing boats harvest in our county’s waters … but we also tend to over fish and harvest small fish that should have been left to grow to reproduce.
(iii) Land creatures. We might blame floods and droughts for great losses … yet how often are animals starving around the planet because farmers do not have the basic tools and abilities to raise cattle, be it for milk or meat products?
(iv) Sky creatures. How often are birds mismanaged preventing them from dropping seeds all over the earth for right purposes? How often are markets flooded with an oversupply of poultry so that co-operations slaughter and dump these products where the starving masses could be fed?
(v) Farm lands. Too much land is either owned by the state or by those who do not understand how to produce crops for the market.
(vi) Mining minerals and oil / petroleum products. Where I support capitalism because it’s taught by Jesus, why is it that most mines, be they platinum, gold, silver, coal, diamonds, gas and oil are owned by a handful of people who are so wealthy they will never be able to spend what they have in a 100 years?
Just in case you think I’m jealous … no I am not. Those close to me know my philosophy is never to be wealthy. All I want is what God provides because in this way I am dependent upon Him for my survival.
However, have you followed what I’m saying? Have we managed this planet and the assets on this planet for God in such a way that all peoples benefit and that God gets all the glory? We have not! This ought to cause us to be prayerful in whom we put into power to manage the country. It ought to cause us to be prayerful for famers and farmworkers. It ought to cause us to pray against the greed of the few who hold the keys to the wealth of the world. It ought to cause us to prayerfully manage what God has given to us to use for His glory.
Our Father, forgive us for our part in mismanaging what You have placed us over. Help us to be better stewards, setting examples for others to copy. Amen.