“Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no pant had yet sprung up for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” (Genesis 2:5-6 NIV)
I’m thinking about gardening this morning. It’s almost shocking as I have a terrible brown thumb. But I was reading the original Eden account for the hundredth or so time when I noticed that the garden was self-watering. Before the first shrub or plant appeared, the Lord had a perfect irrigation system set in place.
“The Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15 NIV)
Man was conceived: in the mind of God and a womb of mud. And then he was assigned with the task of taking care of the garden. The auto-irrigating one. What a cushy and wonderful job Adam initially received! He was assigned a cooperative effort with the work of God, tending to a garden where God was already doing all the heavy lifting. Adam was set up for wildest success in his agronomic adventures!
It was the fall that made man’s work burdensome and unfulfilling. Think with me for a moment about your vocation and calling. Isn’t it often drudgery pockmarked by frustration?
My reading in Live Dead Joy today reminds me that God is a constant Gardener. He’s the one that devised the irrigation system in Eden because He is a Master of all things related to growth. We have the choice to cooperate with His tending – or grow and die according to our own volition. Just as Adam chose his independence, we can choose surrender.
We still have opportunity to cooperate with the good work of God. He invites us back to the garden of our soul; a place of pruning, weeding and replanting. It’s uncomfortable vocation, costly and even outright painful. But we recall that God has already done the heavy lifting. He sent His Son to the cross so we could find our way back into the garden with Him.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV)
When the garden of our soul finally grows lovely again, God gets the glory.
Lord, we choose You. We reverse the course of Adam in our bloodline. We select surrender and cooperation instead. We are so glad for Your initiative over our lives and we want to work alongside Your Spirit in the soil of our souls. Tend to our estate as You see fit. We will follow Your lead. Amen.