Life with God in the Garden
Open Your Bible
Genesis 2:7-9, Genesis 2:15-22, Genesis 3:8-12, Genesis 3:22-24, Genesis 4:1-16, Romans 5:12
BY Kaitie Stoddard
Running barefoot through soft, green grass was a quintessential part of my childhood summers. But when I moved to a desert climate as an adult, I learned that maintaining an inviting yard required a sprinkler system and a green thumb. Having neither, I struggled each summer to keep our landscape from turning dry and brown like the hills that surrounded us.
My battle with the vegetation each year is a consistent reminder that we are not living in the garden of Eden. Images of the Pacific Northwest, with their misty lakes and dense forests, may seem a little closer to that lush paradise on earth. But in our present state, when we dig beneath the surface, no place, person, or thing is truly perfect or whole anymore.
I’m guessing most of us feel far from Eden. Whether it’s problems in our personal lives, the health of a family member, or devastation abroad, there is no shortage of brokenness here and now. But when we look back to the very beginning of creation, we learn that this suffering is not what God desired for His masterpiece.
We all know the story. When God made the earth, He “planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). But we often miss the best part of the garden! It’s not the fertile ground or the naming of the animals but the fact that God Himself walked among His people, in communion with them. God’s original intention was for men and women to live and serve in His presence.
When Adam and Eve chose to sin by disobeying God, choosing their own way over His, the greatest consequence wasn’t pain in childbirth or a lackluster harvest but separation from God’s presence. And that separation was banishment from Eden, death to the soul, and ultimately death to the body. When God first created the world there was no mention of death or destruction. It was only after humanity chose the way of sin that brokenness entered the scene.
God could have left it at that. Handing Adam, Eve, and every generation to follow, over to the downfall of our own decisions. But that is not who God is. God is merciful. God is love. And so God sent His own perfect Son to be the man Adam could not. To live a righteous life, never choosing sin like we do. To be the spotless Lamb, sacrificed to atone for our damage. It was the greatest act of undeserved forgiveness:
God’s giving Himself over to death to save the ones who’d betrayed Him.
God paid the price for our sin because He longs for complete connection with us once again, to walk in the garden with His creation. I cannot begin to fathom how deep His love is for us. But what I do know is that because of Jesus’s sacrifice we are welcomed back into the presence of God. Even in a land east of Eden, we can live and serve with God through His Holy Spirit. And for all who trust in Him, we will walk with our God in paradise again.
61 thoughts on "Life with God in the Garden"
-
Good evening ladies! I hope some of you were able to see the eclipse and marvel in God’s creation!! May I ask for prayer ? My stomach has not been right since I got a stomach bug at the end of January and I’m exhausted from being kept up with stomach pains. Please pray for healing ! I will hopefully see a GI doctor soon
-
I encourage you to get checked for Lyme disease. I was diagnosed with it recently and stomach pain is a symptom.
-
-
♥️
-
Cain is worried about “whomever finds me will kill me”. Is he worried about future brothers or sisters as right now it is just him and his parents.
But God puts a mark on him so that no one will kill him. If all it takes is a mark from God, why is it limited to Cain?
In verse 17, following our selected reading, refers to Cain and his wife. Where did his wife come from? Did God create more than just Adam and Eve?
On Ash Wednesday we remember from ‘dust to dust’ Does that include us or just Adam? Adam isn’t alive until God breathes into his nostrils. How are we so like Adam, yet so different by current cultural standards?
There were many wonderful comments and insights shared today. Thank you for all who shared.
-
I loved that Katie said “this suffering is not what God desired for His masterpiece” in the devotional today. After I lost my daughter I just couldn’t fathom why God would do such a thing. Why did He take her away from me and put me into such a terrible place? But after digging a little deeper into the readings today I can see that God never wanted me to have to feel this pain. He never wanted me to have to know such grief and loss. When God created us He wanted us to walk among Him in the garden and be blissfully ignorant so that we wouldn’t have to ever know the dreadful things that this world can hold, such as death. I still don’t know why God decided that He needed my daughter, and I never will until I meet Him in Heaven. But, I find comfort in the knowledge now that God is not a mean God and I am blessed that because He loves me, He is using this terrible tragedy to bring me closer to Him so that one day I may be with Him and my daughter again.
-
Michelle Patire, I hear you! Some mornings I actually say to God, I can’t imagine what a day for you is like, so overwhelming to comprehend! I also add that I hope the praise going up is greater.
-
Amen
-
Reading the Genesis scriptures is so timely for me right now. We are getting ready for a huge landscape overhaul in our back yard. I have been frustrated with trying this and that, to get things to grow and flourish in beautiful but arid Colorado. I love taking care of the yard and look forward to a fresh start with new trees, shrubs, and flowers. I never enjoyed gardening as a kid but now I find it so rewarding. I know God made us to work the soil and nurture things to grow. I love caring for my two dogs and spending time with them. My husband enjoys the same activities, so I am truly blessed. Thank you God for filling our joyful hearts with your beautiful creation. ❤️
-
@AMANDA NOBLE: i am lifting you up in prayers today. I was on my knees and I could not utter words for my heart was so heavy. BUT please know, nothing is in vain. “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). If there’s one man in your family that sinned, and allowed sin, that causes death, destruction to spread in your life, know that another man, Jesus, shall help you out. My grandpa also opened many doors to his family, to my grandma and the seven children, and the stigma lived on, BUT I was blessed to be the first in my family and generations to know God, and in my fast, I cancelled the generational sins and consequences. I declared all debts is paid for by my Lord’s blood, and I will suffer no more. I pray the same for you dear sister.
I have an idea. Is there a way we can set up a go fund me for AMANDA? I am in Canada and I don’t know how that might work. I would love if any of you dear shes have done this before in your line of ministry work to help organize perhaps? And we all can join in and help her out, with our 5 loaves and 2 fishes (with our lunch money) like that little boy who stepped up and offered to Jesus his humble lunch and the Lord fed the 5,000. God can multiply. What do you think dear she’s? I would love it if we can do this to help AMANDA out.
Be blessed dear sisters.
-
@Mercy. I think your idea is spot on. I also don’t know how to put it together but I would also love to help.
-
Post Comments (61)