Skip to main content

The Dawn - part 4 - God's Paradise

By
Over the last couple of posts, we have seen the world take shape with the voice of God. We have seen how God shaped us with His two hands. We have also looked at God's view of rest. 

Today we are going to take an imaginative look at the paradise that God had created for Adam and Eve to live in. It must have been quite an amazing place to be in, and it was all for them and the animals.

I can imagine that it must have been a place of pure awe. The trees and plants along the banks of the river (Genesis 2:10). The animals playing in the fields and water. The sunrises and sunsets. The endless supply of food from the trees and plants. Then the only thing Adam and Eve had to do was enjoy the space that God had made for them. God did, however, give them some responsibilities in the Garden. 

1 - Work and care for the Garden 
 "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." - Genesis 2:15 NIV

But I believe that this was not work as we think of it. I feel that this was more taking care of what God had given them.

2. Name the animals 
 “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”
- Genesis 2:19 NIV

This must have been the best thing ever! He got to name the animals! Not only did Adam get to name the animals - he got to play with the lions and the tigers and the bears. There was no evil in the world yet. The lions didn't know they could eat Adam. He named everything from the antelope to the zebra.  After the naming of the animals was done, Adam and Eve enjoyed their company, the company of each other, and the company of God whom they walked with every day (Genesis 3:8).

3. The Rules
There were no rules except for one. Could you imagine that - only ONE rule? It must have been paradise! The rule was

“And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'" - Genesis 2:16-17 NIV 

Just one tree out of hundreds of thousands of trees. Don't go near that tree was their only rule. They could go anywhere and do anything. 

But God gave them the freedom to choose. It's a part of who God is. God wants a relationship with us just like He wanted one with Adam and Eve. He wants that relationship to be genuine and not forced. If Adam and Eve had no other choice but God, that would not have been the relationship that God wanted with them. He wanted them to choose Him. 

Think about it like this - if we had our best friend picked for us by our parents - what kind of friendship would that be?? You are forced to be friends. But when you get to pick your own best friend, that changes the relationship you have with that person. 

The same goes with us and God - that is why from the very beginning, He gave us the freedom to choose. 

God wants us to choose Him. He wants that genuine relationship with us that we choose. 
_________________
edited by Kay Beam
Questions or comments... please email secondstagequestions@gmail.com
PLEASE VISIT THE SECOND STAGE MINISTRIES FACEBOOK PAGE
PLEASE VISIT THE SECOND STAGE MINISTRIES YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts for Second Stage Ministries

God, You Failed

By
"God, you failed me!” Many of us have probably heard these words, thought these words, or even said these words. We get tired of waiting for God to do something. We feel like God’s inbox is full and our prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling and coming right back at us. So, in some cases and with some people, they give up and say “God, you failed me!” I feel these words in certain areas of the Bible: Peter, Paul, Moses, Joseph, the disciples and the people that followed and believed in Jesus just to watch Him get crucified. The one that is probably the most obvious is David as he writes in the Psalms about feeling abandoned by God. For this post, I was directed to a familiar story in the Gospel of John. In this story, we are going to see this happen as two women he frustrated with Jesus. The women’s names were Mary and Martha and they had a brother named Lazarus. Lazarus has talked ill and the women had sent for Jesus urging him to come quickly saying “the one yo
Post a Comment
Read more

Eyes Up - part 5 - Patience

By
“...where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.... Psalm 121:1-2 NIV Ahhhh..... patience. That’s it. That’s all I have for this post. Anyone suffer from a lack of patience? I know I do and that is why I find it hard to give advice on the topic. This is why I’m not giving advice. I’m going to let God do that. I want to draw you attention to Exodus 14 for this week’s post. Moses has already been summoned by God to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from Pharaoh. After much talking, plagues and stubbornness - Pharaoh lets the Israelites go. Moses leads them out of Egypt and they get as far as the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh has changed his mind and is in hot pursuit of them. The people begin to grumble at Moses because of their situation. They said things like: “They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egy
Post a Comment
Read more

Eyes Up - part 4 - Peace

By
“...where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.... Psalm 121:1-2 NIV There are just some things that we need help with and that is just a fact. So in this series of posts we are looking at a few of those kind of things and trying change our focus to the One that can give us true help with these things. We have been focusing in on Psalm 121:1-2 for this “Eyes Up” refocus. The psalmist realized that there is really only one true source of help and refocused attention to that source. The topic of today’s post is one that is really only found in Jesus. Peace. What is that anymore? Look around you, turn on the news or scroll Facebook/Twitter and you will see there is really no such thing as peace anymore. People are constantly at each other because of their opinions and refusing to accept one another’s views and move on with life. There is chaos in the line at Walmart because someone cut in line and instead of just letting them have the spot - a verbal fight brea
Post a Comment
Read more

Kryptonite

By
“[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus , who is the Author and Perfecter of faith....” -  Hebrews 12:2 a AMP Have you ever lost focus? Maybe it was a task you were working on and one of your kids (or spouse) come into the room or called out to you from another place in the house causing you to turn your attention from what you were doing to them or their calling out. Then you look back at your task and have to remember where you were or what exactly you have done. Did I add salt to this? Did I put in the sugar for the cookies? How many cups of flour did I put in the mixing bowl already? You get the idea. Have you been there? There are times in life when we can be the same way. We are going along in life - our day to day activities - our gaze is laser focused on Jesus. Then all of a sudden something happens in our life that seemingly comes out of nowhere and takes our focus off of Jesus. We begin then to fall into the storm of what
Post a Comment
Read more

I

By
Last Thursday night, I was sitting in service and Pastor Beeson started the service with a prayer. He started with the words "I need you God" and this is what came to me over the course of that opening moment of prayer. Take a minute to read these words, reflect on these words or pray these words. ---------------- I need you God I need grace I need your love I need your patience I need your forgiveness I need you God I need your joy I need your self-control I need your kindness I need your knowledge I need you God I need your strength I need your hope I need your presence I need your power I need you God I need your peace I need your goodness I need your gentleness I need your mercy I need you God I need what I am not worthy of ___________________ Questions or comments... please email secondstagequestions@gmail.com PLEASE VISIT THE  SECOND STAGE MINISTRIES FACEBOOK PAGE  - CLICK LIKE!! PLEASE VISIT THE  SECOND STAGE MINISTRIES
Post a Comment
Read more