PROTECTION FROM LONELINESS
God’s Art
(Haggai 1:13–15)
By getting to know the works of a writer, an artist, a sculptor, or a musician, we come to recognize characteristics and attributes of the creator in his or her creation. For instance, in the literary world, the name of John Grisham immediately brings to mind dramatic stories of mystery and intrigue set in the world of lawyers and their clients. Fans of military buff Tom Clancy enjoy his high-tech military and espionage thrillers. And the urbane Tom Wolfe gave readers worldly novels that expose the sophistication and transparent values of modern society.
Similarly, the link between Creator and creation is obvious in many ways when we look at God and His human creation. Because we are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26–27), it is not surprising that we would see God’s imprint on who we are. We love because He loves. We are creative because He is creative. We have feelings because He has feelings. And just as we share in what He is, we were created not to share in what He is not.
And if God is not something, He is not lonely. God enjoys, and has forever enjoyed, fellowship within His own divine being. Even if God had never intended to enjoy fellowship with us (which He did, right from the start; Gen. 3:8), He would enjoy fellowship within Himself: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (see John 17 for an intimate conversation between God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ). Put in more colloquial terms, the Father, Son, and Spirit “have always been there for each other.” And we were created to be there for each other, too.
In this story, God created and encouraged fellowship and teamwork among His people. He “stirred up the spirit” of His people to work together, and He supernaturally motivated these individuals to work together to accomplish His purposes (Hag. 1:14). This illustration is a microcosm of the church today—empowered and impassioned by God to complete His work and His will together, as a team.
Christians are a body, with each member being a part (1 Cor. 12:12). We work together, weep together, rejoice together, suffer together, honor together. We are a unity of millions, which reflects the fact that we were created by a God who is a unity of three. God is not lonely; neither did He create us to be.