February 1 - God, Adam & Eve

February 1 - God, Adam & Eve

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.' ... And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day." (Genesis 1:27-31)

See those three dots in there? The ellipsis? That is the beginning of God's love story with Adam and Eve. He gave them everything and allowed them to rule over the things that He couldn't give to them.

The next part of the story is pretty wonderful, beginning in Genesis 2:7. "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."

Hold that tender image in your heart for a moment. God gave life to mankind. He breathed life into him.

The next thing that God did was to plant a garden in which he placed this man. Genesis 2:8-14 describes the beauty of the garden. Imagine the wild colors and sounds of the four rivers flowing through it. Genesis 2:12 reminds us that there were aromatic resins, so that scents would have been glorious! All of these things of beauty surrounded the man that God created.

Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18)

While Adam was busy choosing names for all of the animals and birds, God was looking to see if any one of them would work as a helper, but they didn't, so God created Eve.

When we get a little deeper into the story, we find that the serpent isn't satisfied with the relative ease that these two people were living in, so he plotted and connived to create a way for them to fail in God's eyes. Sin was born. Shame was born. Regret. Punishment. Scapegoating. Pain. Death. Separation from God.

After everything was said and done, Adam and Eve had to leave the cherished garden where they walked each day with God. God had walked in his garden every day and expected to be with his creation. Things would never be the same, mankind would never be able to walk among the trees of the Garden of Eden with God.

But, this is just the beginning of God's story with Adam (man). We'll save the end of the story for another time.