Shaking the Presents

Why tests are often good for us.

Read or Listen: Genesis 2:4-18

As you read through this story, you might find verse 18 to be an odd stopping place. The question to ponder is what happened between the command “you must not eat from the tree…”  and the statement “it is not good for the man to be alone”? The man was created when “there was no man to till the earth” - but no one expects much of a worker the first day on the job. So he is placed in the garden with a slim set of instructions; eat what you like, but one tree is off limits. 

We can imagine the garden like the model home of a brand-new development. It’s fully complete; all the finishing touches have been arranged just so, from the fresh squares of sod to the furnishings inside. But as soon as you step past that brand-new lawn, you are confronted by acres of barren red dirt. If you didn’t have the plans, you could figure out what comes next by studying the model. It might require poking a few holes and peeling up some boards, but eventually you would discover how it’s put together.