Daily Devotional | Naming and Identity

Who are you? If you were to answer that question, you might start with your name, your relationships, and your job. The roles we play, whether at work or home, help define our identity. In Genesis 2:15, God gave Adam his first assignment. He put Adam to work in the Garden of Eden. In effect, this was the first call God placed on a person. Adam’s vocation was to take care of God’s creation. In this verse, the Hebrew word for work is abad. In Scripture it is used generally to denote labor, but it also describes religious service. Adam’s work was an act of worship.

As a part of Adam’s job, God brought the animals to him to see what he would call them. This call is also qara. (See yesterday’s devotional for the definition.) This is the first active and specific way in which Adam images God. Just as God named the light and the earth (Genesis 1), Adam named the animals. And in doing so, he exercised God-given authority over creation.

However, this naming process revealed that God’s good creation still lacked one important thing—a mate for Adam. Adam’s aloneness was the sole flaw in the world. This was “not good.” Adam needed a partner and helper, someone who could labor alongside him in the work that God had given him to do.

So, God created a new being out of Adam’s side and brought her to Adam to see what he would call (qara) her. Here, Adam did not bestow the specific name of Eve. Rather, he calls her “woman.” In his declaration, he recognized her human nature as parallel to his and declared her a separate category. She is both intrinsically equal and necessarily distinct (v. 23).

>> We build our biblical understanding of calling on Genesis 1–3. God’s primary call is His general call to be His people. What work has God given you to do right now? Consider how your work can be an act of worship.