Musings on Gen 2

Genesis 2 – part 2 in my reading of Genesis (surprise surprise 😂)

While many sermons and books could be written on any one of the many valuable and instructive themes, situations and topics presented in this chapter, I found it was helpful to list out some of the points I thought God was making in this text 🙂

1) Rest is important, blessed and holy (when after work). This is something humanity has struggled to come to terms with over all time. A good example can be found looking at the history of the Isralites; we can see often through their time right from when they were formed as a people until Jesus came, they completely either overlooked the Sabbath or misunderstood it. And this was not an offense God took lightly! While we are no longer bound by the law to keep the Sabbath, rest is something which is important to God and of great benefit for us.

2) We are carefully fashioned by God who breathed life (physical, spiritual, mental) into us. What other religion or world view does God come down into the dust and fashion with great care and love humanity? It’s really amazing to think about the personal nature of God forming Adam and Even and then each and everyone of us in the womb. He genuinely cares about us.

3) He cares for our well-being. God made Adam and Eve a beautiful garden, (the Hebrew suggests more like a royal park than our suburban gardens) full of the best fruit trees for their benefit and enjoyment. Instead of leaving Adam on the plain where He formed him, He places Adam in this garden. How cool is that?! God not only cared enough for them to provide a place for them to live, He made them this perfect, delicious place where He shows off all the best bits of His creation.

4) Work is important. As much as it pains me to say it, work is an important part of God’s plan for humanity. In fact God goes as far as to command/instruct Adam to begin work by name the animals. You see, work is one of the ways we are called to be in the image of God, the animals weren’t called to work and tend to the humans, the humans were called to rule over and take care of the animals. There is something very God honouring about a person who faithfully works to the best of their ability.

5) Woman was taken out of man to be his helper. While not used often in modern English, the word Ebenezer is a better translation than helper as it conveys the idea of providing strength when his strengths has become weak, complementing his weakness with her strength and vice versa. She was also to be a delight and a companion to him. How much different would our world look if our relationships demonstrated this level of delight and complementarity?! That would be the sort of world I would love to live in!

I really love this chapter, it provides a brief glimpse into the life God had intended for us and shows a big piece of His heart, love and care towards us.

♡