Genesis 2:8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there He put the man he had formed.
Before God put Adam into the garden, He ‘formed’ him.Theres a process of preparation God takes us through in order to make us what we need to be, but preparation takes time.
God must deal with our inconsistencies, personality defects, areas of distrust, unresolved childhood issues, scars, flaws,etc.How long does it take? Only God knows. Admit it; even at your age don’t you still recognize some childish ways in yourself? Anybody else would have given up on you, but God has a plan and he’s committed to it.We should all wear a sign that say’s :
“Work in progress. If you hire me, you need to know that. If you marry me, you need to know that.’The Bible says the Lord ‘formed man out of the dust of the ground’ (Genesis 2:7 nkjv). What is God working with? Dirt! And the tools He uses to form you are the experiences you go through in life. They shape and alter you. And the more you keep trying to have it your way, the longer the process takes. It may take you five years to learn to stop people-pleasing, or ten years to stop feeling sorry for yourself, or twenty years to stop going back and reliving your childhood.
All the while God is telling you ‘stop it; and you’re saying, ’yeah, I know. I’m gonna do better. ‘Then finally a crisis happens and the truth hits you. At that point you say, ‘you know what? I’m; going to forget those things which are behind and start reaching for those things which are before’ (Philippians 3:13)
What does it mean to plant? To bury seeds beyond human view so that they germinate and eventually produce fruit. In God’s plan for your life, He’s planted blessings you experience overtime. Just because you walk out into a field and don’t see a crop, doesn’t mean the seeds aren’t there; God has planted things in your life that will come to fruition at different times.
It’s amazing that God would plant. Why would He go to such trouble when He could just speak a word and create it? Think of the love, the personal involvement of the Creator of the universe, as He stoops down and plants blessings to come up at different seasons in your life. Everything God has for you hasn’t come up yet, so you can’t give up, or walk away and say, ‘That’s all there is.’ No, God’s got some stuff planted that you haven’t seen or experienced. You’re still becoming what He planted. Knowing that reinforces your faith that it will happen. It also means God believes in you; even when you don’t believe in yourself.
There are talents in you that haven’t been discovered and dreams that haven’t been fulfilled. That’s what the battle is about! The Devil is fighting you over your destiny. He knows what’s been planted in you and he’s trying to kill the seed. Don’t let him. You’re not the person you’ll be six months or six years from now, because there’s a time factor; everything doesn’t come to harvest at the same time. You have to have faith and patience, otherwise you’ll miss what God has for you.
Notice, God placed the man in the garden, ‘eastward in Eden’ (Genesis 2:8). It’s not enough to be in the garden, you’ve got to be in the right location. You must pray, ‘Lord, place me in my garden.’
You learn a lot by raising children. You’re older and wiser, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t go there.’ But you can’t cut through the process. They have to stumble, because that’s how they learn to walk and find their way. Maybe you yourself worked at several jobs before figuring out what you were supposed to do. That’s because you weren’t ‘placed’ yet. At some point, if you’re wise, you begin to pray, ‘Lord, don’t let me spend my life trying stuff, place me!’
You can be in the right place and not know it; because the place has been planted, not created! It doesn’t matter where you start, it just matters where you finish. You need to look in the mirror and announce, ‘There’s something in me that hasn’t come out yet. God, help me to be steadfast until You pull out of me what you planted in me.’ Don’t let anyone convince you that you’re a failure because you don’t wear the right shoes, or have it all together right now. God has a place in mind for you. Just walk with Him and He’ll get you there.
The Bible says: ‘God took the man and put him in the garden of the Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15). Today God may be saying to you, ‘I’ve prepared you, placed you where you need to be, planted blessings in your life that are scheduled to come up at different times, but now you’ve got to work it.’ Stop looking for gardens that are already pruned; you have to prune your own garden. You have to go through your own struggles and shed your own tears.
When people give you stuff they can take it from you. When God gives it to you, it’s yours! But you’ve got to take care of it. You have to prune your own children; they’re not going to turn out right if you neglect them (Proverbs 22:6). You have to prune your own relationships; ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly’ (Psalms 1:1). You have to prune your own business. That means honouring God as your partner, allowing Him to use your business to promote His business.
When you walk with God He’ll protect and prosper you, even in hard times, but you’ve still got to ‘work it.’ Ask any farmer; wheat left unattended will eventually seed itself to death. It must be cultivated. There’s nothing wrong with your life; except that you’re expecting God to do things He’s expecting you to do. Come on, get some shears and start pruning!
More reading: Ezra 9-10, John 8:31-41, Psalm 30.
No comments :
Post a Comment