Nothing, Part One (4/1-3)

01-03 April 2015 – “Nothing” Part One – Manna by Dorothy Callies

Genesis 2:15 NLT, “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.”

The question I found from the Quick Verse Life Application Bible was: “What if my work has nothing to do with anything “Christian”—How can God be glorified in my work? Answer: Our work is anchored in God’s very character; part of being made in His image is sharing the industrious and creative aspects of His nature.

To find out what this really mean, let’s search Genesis 2:1-9, 15 in NLT, “So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2) On the seventh day, having finished His task, God rested from all His work. 3) And God blessed the seventh day and declare it holy, because it was the day when He rested from His work of creation. 4) This is the account of the creation of heavens and the earth.”

4) When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, 5) there were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the Lord God had not sent any rain. AND NO ONE WAS THERE TO CULTIVATE THE SOIL. 6) But the water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. 7) AND THE LORD GOD FORMED A MAN’S BODY from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. AND THE MAN BECAME A LIVING PERSON.

8) Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and HE PLACED THE MAN HE HAD CREATED. 9) “And the Lord God planted all sorts of trees in the garden—beautiful trees that produced fruit. 15) THE LORD GOD PLACED THE MAN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN TO TEND AND CARE FOR IT.”

Dorothy: What did I learn from this? When God created the earth, there were no plants or grain growing on the earth because no one was there to cultivate the soil. So when God made Adam, God gave Adam a job to do. To cultivate the soil, God need Adam to prepare the land for the raising of crops, to loosen up or break up the soil. God need Adam’s help with labor and to take care of the growing grain and vegetables that it becomes food for Adam.

So we see that Adam was made in God’s image, His character that God likes to work and God gave Adam a job to do … to cultivate the soil, to raise food and to keep busy working six days a week. Then God rested on the seventh day and Adam, like God, rested on the seventh day.

God was glorified when Adam obeyed and he did the work of cultivation on the soil. It is true that cultivation has “nothing” to do with anything “Christian,” but still God put Adam to work. When God worked, Adam worked too. So there’s more to this.  

To be continued to Part two, “Nothing.”