Fulfill Your Destiny Series

Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy, who secretly maintains the colossal train station clocks in 1930s Paris. Hugo had a tender relationship with his father, until his father died tragically in a fire. Now Hugo is struggling to survive, scrounging for scraps of food.

Hugo and his friend Isabelle, another orphan, both about 12-years-old, are up in the tower surrounded by the massive and intricate workings of the train station clock. They walk to the inside face of the giant clock through which they see a breathtaking view of Paris at night. Take a look (show video: Hugo, Big Machine Clip).

Right after my father died, I would come up here a lot. I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts; you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine… I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too (Hugo. Directed by Martin Scorsese, 2011, 1:19:52 to 1:20:52, Hollywood, CA: Paramount Studios, 2012; www. PreachingToday.com).

I have to be here for some reason. You have to be here for some reason even in the midst of all the trouble. The question is, “What is that reason?” For what purpose did God make you and me? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 2, Genesis 2, where the Bible tells us why God created man.

Genesis 2:4-6 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground... (ESV)

On the sixth day of creation, the day God made man, there was no “bush of the field” and no “small plant of the field.” Now, there were plenty of bushes and plants, because God created all vegetation on the third day of creation (Genesis 1:11-13). But there was no cultivated bushes or plants, no bush OF THE FIELD nor plant OF THE FIELD, because there was no man to cultivate the ground yet. It all grew “wild,” so to speak before man could “work the ground”—a hint at man’s purpose.

Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (ESV).

Like a great artist, God took some clay and sculpted out the form of a man. This is different than the rest of His creation. With everything else, God spoke, and it was so. Here, God gets intimately involved with His creation, forming man, so-to-speak, with His own hands.

Just this last week, I came across a TED talk by mathematician Alexander Tsiaras, called Conception to Birth—Visualized (www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKyljukBE70). In the talk, he shows a powerful, medical visualization of human development from conception to birth, which he describes as a “mystery,” as “magic,” as “divinity.” Take a look (show video: Conception to Birth—Visualized).

Tsiaras refers to what he calls the "marvel" and the "miracle" of an unborn baby's development. Tsiaras highlights the miracle of life with the following examples:

At 44 days the fetus has become "something that you can recognize."

At nine weeks it "is really like a kind of little human being."

At 25-28 days, the baby's heart, which resembles a "magnificent origami," is developing at a rate of one million cells per second.

At 32 days the arms and hands are developing.

Within five weeks you can start to see the heart's early atrium and ventricles. A week later the baby's heart is actually becoming mature.

At 52 days the retina, nose, and fingers are developing.

By the time the fetus is full-term, it has 60,000 miles of vessels inside its body—although only one mile of vessels are visible. The other 59,999 miles of vessels are quietly working to bring nutrients and dispose of waste (Alexander Tsiaris, "Conception to Birth—Visualized," TED.com, December 2010; www.PreachingToday.com).

You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth (Psalm 139:13-15).

God sculpted the form of a man. Then God breathed life into that man.