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God is a worker.

^“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” NIV UK

‘’My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working’’ (John 5:17).

The famous preacher/author, Chuck Swindoll, once quipped: ‘Many Christians think Manual Labour is the President of Mexico!’

God is a worker. This is the story of Genesis so far. God is a hard worker: that’s how the universe got to be here. God is an abundantly creative worker: that’s how the world with all its variety (including you and me) came to be here. God has established a pattern of six days for work and one for rest. If we follow His example, we will not descend into workaholism, but we will certainly not be lazy either. Christian workers who violate this principle, however sincere they may be, are probably heading for burn out at some point. Even if not, it sounds like saying you know better than God. However spiritual it may appear, it’s not right. In that direction lies a train wreck.

But a proper understanding of today’s single verse will motivate us to work; to see its value and beauty and dignity. But it also shows that the work God calls us to join Him in is not destructive of the earth, but it is rather to ‘’take care of it’’. If the human race had taken note of this, and not been so greedy, we would not have the environmental disaster on our hands that we are currently facing.

Here is an extension of the thought about work from the pen of F.B. Meyer: ‘ Every man is entrusted with a garden, that he may keep it. God’s goodness is no excuse for idleness. Whether your heart and life shall produce weeds or flowers and fruits depends on you. Ponder Prov. 4:23; 24:30, 31.’ Devotional Commentary, p.16

PRAYER: Lord God, thank you for the gift of work. Help us to work hard at whatever tasks you have given us. Thank you that we can all be difference makers in this world when we do our work through you and for you. Lord have mercy on our planet. Forgive us for our careless rape of its resources. Please forgive us for all we do to destroy the earth rather than care for it, and lead us to repentance, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Genesis 2:8-14: Trees and rivers.

^“8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  ¹⁰ A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” NIV UK

‘’They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour’’ (Isaiah 61:3b).

Believers have been put on the earth to be fruitful and flowing.

 Like the fruit trees in Eden, God makes us beautiful and delicious. Somebody spoke about ‘the give-away life’ of the Christian. God grows the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ in us, so that others may benefit. They can sample this fruit and ‘’Taste and see that the LORD is good…’’ (Psalm 34:8). Although the fruit may be growing on us, it’s God’s fruit. It’s His work; His produce. A God-planted believing man or woman will be ‘’pleasing to the eye’’ and ‘’good for food’’. There will be something both beautiful and appetising about the lives they lead. There will be those people looking on who say, ‘I want some of that.’ (As someone observed: our lives should be commercials for the Kingdom, saying in effect, ‘If you like what you see, why not visit your local showroom?!’)

Also, like the rivers flowing out of Eden, the Holy Spirit who first refreshes us (10), comes to bring freshness to the dry world around. God gives us an outgoing life. It’s a life which produces fruit for others; a life bringing vitality to others. It’s a life that is meant to wind ‘’through the entire land’’, you might say. It’s not to stay locked up inside us, but is meant to flow out. This calls to mind Ezekiel’s vision of the ever-deepening river flowing from the temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12), and Jesus’ words about ‘’living water’’ (John 7:37-39).

PRAYER: Lord, you do not expect me to keep this Christian life to myself. It’s clear you want others to feed on it and to be blessed by it. May my life flood the world with yours!

Genesis 1:24-31: The truth about man.

^“24 And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  ²⁶ Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’

²⁹ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” NIV UK

Man appears at the end of Genesis 1 as the crown and pinnacle of creation. There is something different about him/her compared to every other life form. Only man was made in the ‘’image’’ of God, created to ‘’rule’’ (26, 28). I once heard a preacher say: ‘The truth about man is that he was meant to tell the whole truth about God’. But, of course, he does not now do so. Since the fall into sin (which we will come to look at shortly), that image has been marred. It has become defaced and distorted. But everyone in Christ is in a process of restoration. What was lost in the garden is being restored (Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:9, 10).

Edgar Wallace, who wrote mystery stories, lived in the same street as a Christian man. Wallace apparently said, ‘As long as I live in the same street as that man, I cannot doubt that there is a God.’ The man wasn’t God, of course; but it would seem that he was becoming more and more like Him. No Christian on earth has yet been perfected. But because we are in the process, we can have a similar impact on our neighbours. Now isn’t that something to covet?

PRAYER: Lord, let me reflect your glory in this world. Grant that my life may be evidence for your reality.

Genesis 1:20-23: Teeming with life.

“²⁰ And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day. “ NIV UK

Happy New Year! May it be truly blessed.

We serve the God of super-abundance. He is the Lord who creates teeming life and causes ‘’increase’’. I pray you will know this God-given increase in your spiritual life and in the life of your church. God does not dribble His blessing upon us; He pours it out liberally.

‘’The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it’’ (Proverbs 10:22).

PRAYER: ‘’Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me…’’ (1 Chronicles 4:10).