In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:1, 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24).
For the last few years, I have been researching, experimenting, praying over and working in a vegetable garden – along with flower beds throughout our property. My husband made it easier for me in the vegetable garden by creating three long raised beds. My new hobby has been an eye opener as to God’s original intention for man and His love for us when He created His world. As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “All the farming …which God does is for the benefit of others and never for Himself… Though all things are God’s, His works in creation and in providence are not for Himself, but for His creatures.”
Before sin entered the world, there was a garden – a gift given by God to those He loved and created. Even then, the garden needed work, but that work was unhampered by difficulty. The order of His act of creation shows that He had man and the garden in mind. On the first day, He created light. It is hard to find plants that do not need the sunlight to flourish. On the second day, He separated the “waters”. Plants need water and humidity to thrive. On the third day, dry land appeared and He created plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed…(Genesis 1:12). On the fourth day, God created the seasons which every gardener knows you must live by.
It was on the sixth day that God created His garden’s caretakers. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image …. And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:26, 29). The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Genesis 2:15).
Stewardship of a garden is a gift. Our very first assignment from our Creator was to take care of His garden. Only after sin entered the world did gardening become difficult. Now we deal with bad soil, weeds, thorns, storms and bugs that threaten to demolish the hard work done for the crop. All these, however, are a reminder of what happens when we reject God’s best design.
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