Planting His Garden

Photo by Tony Reid

The Master Gardener

The scripture below is several verses long, but take the time to read it through.  Don't race through it, but read it slowly, soaking up the nuances.

"This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:4-17

We need reminding where we came from.  We need reminding that there was a very Intelligent Being that took the time and care to form the first human being.  A God who took the time, energy, and fore thought to create a beautiful world for humans to inhabit.  A generous God who provided an abundance of food and lushness.  

We need reminding that not only did he provid an amazing home for mankind to live in, but He also created the freedom of choice.  Do you like that?  Would you have rather not had that responsibility?  When life gets hard, it sometimes seem like it would be easier not to have the choice.  Yet, at the end of the day, no one ever wants to lose their freedom of choice. Thank you Lord for creating such a beautiful home for humans.  We look forward to the time when you will restore earth to its original glory!

Created human, you who was thoughtfully and carefully crafted in your mother's womb by the hand of God at the beginning of earth's history; may you appreciate the freedoms you still have today.  May those freedoms bless you, and may you be a blessing to other created humans because of those freedoms In Jesus Name!