Thursday

God Walked In The Garden

I was standing in waist high grass when I took this shot
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

I recently had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in a tropical rainforest that can receive up to 300 inches (25 feet) of rainfall a year. This and other factors make the forest explode with vegetation. A tropical rainforest is home to 1,000s of plants, insects, birds, and other animals. The flowers and fragrances can be amazing.

I realize the method for watering the pre-flood earth was different from today, but all the species, plus thousands of extinct species, grew on the earth and, I expect, in the garden. But this creation without physical controls, enforced limits, and oversight can become virtually uninhabitable to humans. Just getting to the beauty in an overgrown rain-forest is tough.
Some tropical trees are measured by the acreage they cover
Many tropical rainforests are overwhelmed by tall, large trees, which means the ground is wet, covered by roots, saplings, plants, vines, debris, insects, seeds, and it is always dark. Open areas are soon taken over by vines, bushes, grasses, and bamboo (which is in the grass family and can grow up to a few feet per day) making human travel very difficult. I walked for at least a mile in matted, tangled, waist to chest deep grass and each of my steps was cradled by the tangled grass at least a foot off the ground. It was similar to walking in deep snow.
Rainforest Bamboo
It is clear in this passage that God chose to physically enjoy His creation, but He required a special creature to enhance its beauty and productivity. This creature needed to have the senses to experience the beauty and value of this garden, and understand what it was experiencing. It needed to have the intelligence to recognize beauty and productivity derived from orderliness. The creature also had to have the functional ability to maintain a complex, fast growing garden so this beauty and fruit could be enjoyed and used.
Man was God’s solution. He created him with the senses to see, touch, smell, taste, and hear the garden. He gave him the intellect to appreciate the information his senses deliver. He was given the intellectual ability to understand change and its effects on his environment, and to plan these changes. He was given the physical ability to execute the plan, and then assess the result. Humans were not created to simply survive and reproduce. Mankind was created to make a beautiful, bountiful creation more fruitful by giving it order and making it accessible.
Accessible, it seems, primarily to God… God used man to maintain His garden for His own pleasure. He walked in the garden. I wonder if He still walks earth’s gardens?

2 comments:

  1. Our abilities come from God and are always and entirely intended for God-given purposes... may He grant us the ability to be ever mindful that the very planet we walk on is not ours to destroy, but His to care for.
    Beautifully written... thank you.
    ¡Un abrazote! (a big hug)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "not ours to destroy, but His to care for." I agree my friend, I try to walk this planet with reverence and awe.

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