"And there was not a man to till the ground." This signifies that there was no man to work with God in coordination by human labor with the divine (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9). Many Christians are too super-spiritual. When they are too "super," they become superficial. They are superficially spiritual, saying, "We should not do anything. The Spirit does everything." This is wrong. If you do nothing, God cannot do anything, for He needs human labor to cooperate with His divine labor. What is the use of the rain coming down if there is no man to till the ground? If, as a man, you have tilled the ground, you have the right to pray, "Lord, I am here. Send the rain." Then God will send rain. However, suppose there is no man upon the earth claiming the rain and some angel says, "O God Jehovah, why don't You send the rain?" God will reply, "If I send My rain, it will be wasted. I am waiting for a man to till the ground. Once the man on the earth has tilled the ground, I will send rain."
In these days the church is concerned about gospel preaching. Suppose, however, there is not one Christian in Anaheim working with God and some angels in the air pray, "O God Almighty, save the people in Anaheim. Send out Your voice and everyone will repent." God would reply, "This is foolish. When there is no one in Anaheim working with Me, how can I save people?" Do you remember the story of Cornelius? Although an angel came to him with a message, the angel could not preach the gospel (Acts 10:1-8). The angel told Cornelius, "You need to send for Peter and ask him to come. I cannot till the ground because I am an angel. I am not qualified. The human beings have been ordained to preach the gospel. They are qualified. Ask Peter to come."
While there was no man on the earth to till the ground, God did not send the rain. There was no man to work with God in coordination by human labor with the divine. We must labor in coordination with God's divine labor. Day and night we must pray for our relatives and our friends. We must work on them. Then the rain will come. If we do not cooperate with God by tilling the ground, the rain will never come. God does not waste His rain. When it comes, it comes to produce life.
"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." This signifies that there was not yet any life, for life had not grown out of the earth. Since there was no one to till the ground and no rain had fallen, it was impossible to have life.
"But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (v. 6). This signifies that there was only something out of the earth to work on the earth; there was nothing from heaven coming down to cause the earth to grow out life.
These four items compose the background of the creation of man. If we approach these verses in an allegorical way, we will find them worthy to be in the Bible. I love Genesis 2:5-6. Now we may understand that we need the rain and that God needs us. God needs our co-labor. Then the rain from heaven will descend to mingle with the dust of the earth to produce life.