In the Garden: Our Assignment
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I want you to close your eyes for a moment and envision being in the most beautiful garden you can. I think of lush green foliage, bright vivid blooms everywhere, tall trees rising to the sun, a babbling brook running through the middle, fertile soil, no weeds and everything is producing in abundance. Can you just imagine what the Garden of Eden was like? I mean not only was everything perfect there, but the presence of God dwelled there and spoke with Adam and over Adam. I find it so interesting that out of all the things God could have chosen for man to do at creation, he chose him to rule over the animals and the land and “tend” to the garden. In Genesis chapter 2 we read that God planted a garden in the East and there he placed man. It says that there were all sorts of trees that grew up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and produced delicious fruit. Then later in verse 15 we read that God placed man in the Garden of Eden and told him to tend and watch over it. Wow! Man’s first assignment was to be a gardener.
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Now we all know the rest of the story, and we will talk more about that at another time, but for now I want you to grasp what God was telling Adam here. He was saying, listen Adam, I have placed you in this beautiful place and I need you to “tend” to it and “watch over it”. This simple statement really spoke to me as I read it.
God has placed each of us here on this beautiful Earth with a purpose to accomplish his will. Do we see where we are? Do we notice the beauty that is around us in our marriage, our children, our job, our provisions, our emotions, our storms, our daily living, and our ministry? Do we tend to it? Are we watching over it? Our lives are like this garden. There is fruit to be produced there in abundance, IF, we tend to it and watch over it. God wants to dwell in our garden, speaking to us and over us just like he did Adam, but we must invite him in. We must let him be the master gardener and we the watchmen, the worker that tends the garden.
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See, the truth here is that we can’t just expect the garden we envisioned at the beginning to become a reality unless we tend to it. If we want to feel God’s presence with us, if we want to make an impact for the kingdom, we must work. If we want our children to be saved, if we want to be the spouse that God has called us to be, if we want to run a successful business or start a ministry, we must work. We must watch over our hearts; guard them if you will. The bible says in Proverbs 4:23 to “keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the spring of life”. God is telling us today, “tend” to your garden, tend to your heart. He says watch over the things I have given you, watch over them, protect them, pray over them, speak life over them, and see what fruit will be produced. Don’t give up just because you’re not seeing the fruit right away. Gardening takes time, it takes patience, it takes faith to believe that if you have sown the seeds that a sprout will rise from the soil.
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Your assignment is to be a gardener, a gardener of righteousness and for the kingdom! Preparing the soil for planting, now that is where the work begins. More on this next time!
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I encourage you to read Genesis Chapter 2. 3:11
Jeremiah 17:10 & Ecclesiastes
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“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put
eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”