I know you are looking at the blog title and saying, "Wow, what a fun topic!" Most today don't seek out work and don't like the perceived restriction of order. We have convinced ourselves that freedom is somehow connected to "doing what I want." But do you ever wonder if we are all somehow connected to a larger plan, a larger purpose and a bigger dream than our own wants?
If you start the Bible from the beginning, you will find that it doesn't take long for God to proclaim some of the reasons He created humans. In Genesis 1 we find that we are made in the image of God. I have thought that if we somehow took all of the good things in all of the people who have ever lived and put them on display, we might get a small peek at a reflection of God ... like the moon reflecting the son or a child reflecting a bit of its father/mother. This is, by God's account, a good thing. But there is another thing happening in Genesis. The story of creation is being told in simple terms so that we might grasp some of what God is like and what people are like ... how God created us. That calls me to one verse in Genesis 2. "God took the man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order (Genesis 2:15, The Message)." So much about God and people is contained in that short verse.
1. God's placement - Did you note that God "Set him down in the Garden of Eden?" God, in His purpose and wisdom, placed the man in the garden. The Bible talks about God moving nations, kings and events ... and we find a singular person, Adam, placed by God into the garden.
2. God's priority - God has 2 things Adam is supposed to do. First, he is to 'work' the garden. The Hebrew word is Avadh. It implies both toil and serving. The King James Version uses the word 'dress.' I understand this well, since, as a child, I worked many hours in my father's garden. I hoed clods, pulled up weeds and sweated in the hot North Carolina sun. I liked the fresh vegetables, but wasn't so keen on the work it took to get them! The second priority we find is 'order.' Keeping the garden in order means that God had a plan and an intent as He created the garden. It wasn't random. God seems to want order. The very first thing that happens in Genesis 1 is God brings order to what the Bible calls, "formless and empty." God fills the emptiness and gives order to the formless. And God gives Adam instructions to 'keep it that way.'
3. God's beautiful plan - I remember planting, working, growing and picking vegetables from my own garden. It was hard work. But if you worked hard enough and came to the garden as a servant of something bigger than yourself, it would produce good things. You might even come to the realization that God had created the things you were planting to have the right amount of care, the right amount of water and the right amount of sunlight. The plan for a good garden is something designed long before you were born ... it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Here is our disconnect. We think our freedom is the license to place ourselves wherever we want doing whatever we want. We are in charge of placement and we even tell ourselves, "I can go anywhere I want!" We establish our own priorities, ignoring the things that are important to God. We have our own plans and forget the plans of one who desires to give us a hope and a future.
I say all this to remember the Biblical beginning and end of things. If you read Revelation carefully, you will see that God brings things full circle. In Revelation 22, the chapter begins with "The Restoration of Eden." It is a stark reminder that God will bring to pass what God desires and has designed. God has a place to which He brings His people (His Bride), a priority that will certainly be realized and a plan that will happen. So ... will we serve/dress God's garden ... will we work to make God's plan happen ... will God's priorities become our priorities? In the formless, orderless void we see swirling in this world, will we be agents of working God's fields so that God's order will be restored? Randy
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