Some random thoughts about the garden.
…When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground...(Gen. 2:4-5)
This is how the “story” of the first Adam is approached by the writer of all history. Up until this point, everything that God had made was “good”. On a sidenote that I like to rant about sometimes, that means that even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a good thing. Anyway, God breathed into the dust of the Earth and somehow put life into a being that bore His likeness… However, there is something that caught my thoughts the other night about this passage; “…and there was no man to work the ground…“
After the fall, God let everyone know the consequences of their decisions (actually with grace and mercy) and this is part of what He said to Adam:
…When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground...(Gen. 2:4-5)
This is how the “story” of the first Adam is approached by the writer of all history. Up until this point, everything that God had made was “good”. On a sidenote that I like to rant about sometimes, that means that even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a good thing. Anyway, God breathed into the dust of the Earth and somehow put life into a being that bore His likeness… However, there is something that caught my thoughts the other night about this passage; “…and there was no man to work the ground…“
After the fall, God let everyone know the consequences of their decisions (actually with grace and mercy) and this is part of what He said to Adam:
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
I’ve often translated this in my head that the curse was on Adam because now he had to work and toil for all of his days. However, if you read the passage in chapter 3, it states that the ground would be cursed because of his decision. So instead of him cursed and the world was affected, it was the ground that was cursed which would then affect him…through painful toil…
Am I taking too much liberty with that? (ALSO, I know about the consequences of sin…but I’m just focusing on work)
Every time I read that whole section I see how God curses the serpent and the ground and explains the effect that sin has now burdened the man and the woman with.
Right before God made man, he said that there was no man to work the ground. So,
I’m assuming that work is not at all a cursed thing but a blessed
thing. Also, I believe that God taught Adam how to work the land and
that Adam learned. I think that Adam got REALLY good at it too. I think
that might be why this particular curse was so excruciating for Adam. There is a level of intimacy I’m sure that changed when “sin entered the world” but I see absolutely no sign of God forsaking Adam or not guiding him through it. However, I want you to get a mental picture in your head…ok?
I’ve often translated this in my head that the curse was on Adam because now he had to work and toil for all of his days. However, if you read the passage in chapter 3, it states that the ground would be cursed because of his decision. So instead of him cursed and the world was affected, it was the ground that was cursed which would then affect him…through painful toil…
Am I taking too much liberty with that? (ALSO, I know about the consequences of sin…but I’m just focusing on work)
Every time I read that whole section I see how God curses the serpent and the ground and explains the effect that sin has now burdened the man and the woman with.
Right before God made man, he said that there was no man to work the ground. So,
I’m assuming that work is not at all a cursed thing but a blessed
thing. Also, I believe that God taught Adam how to work the land and
that Adam learned. I think that Adam got REALLY good at it too. I think
that might be why this particular curse was so excruciating for Adam. There is a level of intimacy I’m sure that changed when “sin entered the world” but I see absolutely no sign of God forsaking Adam or not guiding him through it. However, I want you to get a mental picture in your head…ok?
Adam probably slept on the ground and quite possibly got cold at night. He laid under the stars and I wonder if he too had ears to hear the morning stars singing His praises? He got hungry and probably had to go scrounge up berries and eat out a garden the he probably spent considerable time working at. I’m sure the pace was much different and the crops he reaped were far more abundant. However, animals still stank, he still poo’d, and the mosquitos probably still bit him. Adam was the first man…but he was just that. A man. Now a man who has known the abundance of crops, the intimacy of a God and the splendor of a perfect world. Well, if he was taken out of the garden because of grace and mercy (again hit me up if you want me to ramble about it), then it stands to reason that he would try to create and sustain a world as closely as possible to what he already knew. I can only imagine how dismal this world must look after being in that garden. This is most likely the reason why it drove him to work the land and toil painfully to get a “cursed” ground to respond similarly to what his blessed ground did initially.
I’m kind of assuming that we’ve all fall into the trap of trying to work our way back to the pinnacle of perfection somehow at some point in time…or at least dreamed of it if we’re too lazy to actually do anything about it. What do you pursue? How do you define success? Why exactly are you working? What are you working for?
Do I think work is bad? Well…
God worked. God works. God will work. If we’re made in His image then
there’s a good chance we’ll work for eternity with Him. What will we
do? I dunno, but He can get a lot accomplished in a week so it should
be pretty exciting.
Regardless, there’s a balance of work and rest that needs to be in our lives for our own good because that’s how we’re wired.
My question is: How well are you balancing that?
Please pray that I will balance it well.
Please pray that I will balance it well.
PS. Thank you Andrew for entertaining these questions with me the other night.
