Life in the Garden

“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.’” Gen 2:15-17



We can readily understand the concept of keeping and tending a garden. You have weeds to contend with, making sure it is watered, protecting it from insects and other hungry critters, and making sure it gets the right amount of sun among other things. The interesting thing is man was placed here before the fall. There were no weeds, the earth watered itself from the ground up, animals were subject to man, and this garden was planted by God. What would it have been like?

If we allow our imaginations to soar in God here, we can begin to see how enjoyable work must have been. Some of you enjoy your work now, but most people seem to dislike it at some degree. You never have everything you need, deadlines and other pressures constantly pushing on you, other people getting in the way of what you need to get done, etc... Consider work with no hindrances. I think about when I was doing electrical work, if all my parts and tools were available, the temperature was always right, my thoughts were not cluttered, deadlines did not matter, everyone was joyful and easy to work with and I was not torn by other commitments then it would probably be very fun. Man was created with a work aspect, our work is meant to be enjoyable, tending and keeping the garden was fun.

Everyday man would walk with God in the cool of the day and discuss what was going on in the garden. Man having expanded it, and arranged it and then showing God excitedly what he had done. I picture God with His loving arm around the man, smiling, enjoying every word coming out of his mouth. I see the man running ahead here and there to say look at this and see what I did here, watch how this works, the giraffes really love this spot, and the butterflies swarm over here! God smiles and affirms the man, making small suggestions that go almost unnoticed but plant the seed for the man’s future ideas. A proud father watching his son grasp the family business, ready to make astounding changes and additions. Oh the glory of it all!!

The man was given only one rule. Do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There were all kinds of fruit to eat, only one forbidden. I picture God placing the man in the garden and with a sweeping hand motion saying all of this belongs to you! God must have had great joy giving this to the man, showing him the ropes, and warning him of the one and only danger. Look at all of the trees, how beautiful and tasty the fruit is, but this one tree, do not eat it because it will cause you to die.

Why would God put this tree here? The garden was perfect, but why did God include something that could mess it all up, that would mess it all up? Love! He was saying to the man that there is no part of Himself that He would make inaccessible. I give you all of Myself Son, there is nothing that I will hold back from you, but this one area you are not able to take upon yourself, you can do whatever your heart desires, just do not eat this one fruit. It is the knowledge of good and evil that sets God apart as God. He is the only judge and if we try to take that into ourselves we become corrupted, evil and under the power of death. God has no obligation to come into agreement with our understanding of good and evil, but we have every obligation to submit to His if we desire life.

The stage is now set: God, the man, a garden and one command. There was no time frame set on the command, and at this point there was no woman present. All of history lay before the man. Would he remain faithful? He did not. The whole race is corrupted.

Now we have a similar choice to make. This first command was a warning about the entrance of death, but now we have a command that will encourage us into life. Now the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. The garden is desolate, and we are born under a curse, no matter what we do or “eat” we will die. Of all the trees in the garden of this fallen world you must not eat, but of the tree of My Son you may freely eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will live.

There is no greater day than when we realize that once again we have been given access to the tree of life. No greater moment than when we realize that ONE has taken the penalty of death for us. No greater time then when we say yes to Jesus and no to the world. If you’ve not eaten of the tree of life, today is that day. Jesus stands with life in His hand to give you; will you taste and see that the Lord is good?