Man encompasses Creation yet stays humble

במד' זכה אומרים לו אתה קדמת.

In the Midrash: If a person merits, they say to him, "You preceded [all of Creation]."

Chazal teach that if a person is worthy, he is told that he came before all of Creation — for in one sense man, the purpose of the world, preceded everything else.

פי' אז צריך אדם לעורר עצמו בזה שהוא קודם לכל הברואים וכולם תלוין בו.

The explanation: then a person must arouse himself with this awareness — that he precedes all the creations and they all depend upon him.

A person should awaken within himself the recognition that, as the goal of Creation, all the created beings are bound up with him and depend on his avodah.

ומה"ט אחור וקדם צרתני כדי להיות האדם כולל מהתחלת הברואים עד אחרון שבהם.

And for this reason, "Back and front You have formed me" (Tehillim 139:5) — so that man should encompass everything from the first of the creations to the last of them.

Man was formed "back and front," made last in deed yet first in thought, so that he contains within himself the entire span of Creation, from beginning to end.

לכן בכוחו להטות כל הבריאה אליו ית'.

Therefore it is within his power to turn all of Creation toward Him, Yisbarach.

Precisely because man encompasses all of Creation, he has the ability to direct and elevate the entire world back toward Hashem.

אשא דעי למרחוק ולפועלי א"צ.

"I will carry my knowledge from afar, and to my Maker I will ascribe righteousness" (Iyov 36:3).

The verse expresses the dual reality of man: his understanding can reach to lofty, distant heights, while at the same time he must humbly ascribe all righteousness to his Maker.

פי' שהגם שהשגת האדם למעלה מאוד אעפ"כ בפועל וגשמיות הוא במדריגה פחותה טיפה סרוחה.

The explanation: that although a person's apprehension reaches very high, nonetheless in actual deed and in physicality he is on a lowly level — "a putrid drop" (Avos 3:1).

Man holds two opposite truths at once: his soul's grasp soars to the heights, yet his physical, bodily existence began from something lowly and humble.

וב' הבחינות צריך האדם לחברם תמיד:

And a person must always join these two aspects together.

The avodah is never to let go of either truth, but constantly to bind the loftiness of one's spiritual reach together with the humility of one's physical lowliness.

Summary: Man, the purpose of Creation, both precedes and encompasses all created things, and therefore has the power to turn the whole world back toward Hashem. Yet he must simultaneously remember that, in his physical being, he is lowly — "a putrid drop." The true avodah is to hold both truths together always: the soaring height of the soul and the humility of the body.