Look around right now. Wherever you're at, scan your environment. What do you see?
I would imagine that you are surrounded by created objects. If you’re at home, you might see a couch or a desk. Maybe a bed or yesterday’s unfolded laundry. (Oops, too real?) If you’re on the go, you might see a car or a fence or a building. Maybe a sidewalk or a playground or your lunch. Regardless of the item, they all have something in common: they were created. A creator — an architect, a designer, an engineer, a chef — someone took delight in creating everything you see for a specific use in a specific environment.
A leather couch is best used indoors, while a cement sidewalk is found outside. Submerging a blow dryer in water can have deadly consequences whereas there is no use for a submarine on dry land. If you take the created item out of the environment it was designed for, it won’t function optimally nor will it fulfill it’s intended purpose.
Humans are created beings… handmade by Creator God Himself… designed for a specific purpose and a specific environment. While each person has a unique, God-given assignment, there is only one environment where people belong… only one place where we function to our fullest and can fulfill our intended God-given purpose.
It’s not a literal place as in an earthly location. But it’s just as real.
Immediately following the creation of mankind, God planted a garden in the region of Eden. It was the perfect environment for humanity to live in. Eden was a literal place, but it also serves as the blueprint of God’s original model for our lives — the spiritual place He desires us to live from:
Genesis 2:15, NASB
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
"TOOK"
To start, let’s look at the word "took." It comes from the same Hebrew word used when referring to a man taking a woman in marriage — it can mean "to take a wife." From the beginning of time, the heart of God is that we would be His Bride. Before anything else, that is who we are. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul develops this further as he writes about the Church being the Bride of Christ.
"PUT"
This Hebrew word simply means "to rest." Throughout Scripture, God promises us His rest. It was there in the beginning and it is still there today. Everything we do should be done from a place of rest in Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Lord has given us His gift of Sabbath rest. Not just on one literal day of the week, but every day… if we choose to enter in.
"GARDEN"
In the Hebrew this word refers to "an enclosure." It means "to cover, surround, defend." This is why we can be at rest… because God Himself covers us, surrounds us, and defends us… His Bride. We are enclosed in Himself. Planted in His garden. Connected to the Vine. Dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.
"EDEN"
This word comes from the Hebrew for "delicate, delight, pleasure." Ah, this is where and how we flourish… delighting in the Lord and taking pleasure in Him, our Beloved. This is the environment God originally intended us to dwell in. And this is the place we can dwell in every time we lean into His presence. Anywhere you are can be "Eden."
"CULTIVATE"
This Hebrew word is defined as "to work or serve;" however, it can also mean worship or worshiper! We were designed to be servants. We were created to worship. The two go hand and hand. All that we do is to be with a servant’s heart as worship unto the Lord. Our work is our worship.
"TEND"
The final word is Hebrew for "to keep, watch, preserve" or "watchman." Our role is not passive. Our spiritual well-being is not automatic. Our relationship with God doesn’t grow itself. As someone once told me, "Sheriff your own life." The Apostle Peter reminds us that the enemy “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, NLT). We must be diligent to watch over and preserve the garden of our souls and be intentional about tending to our spiritual growth in God.
With all those definitions in mind, if I had to sum it all up, here’s the essence of Genesis 2:15: From the beginning, we (His Bride) are called to work from rest, covered and surrounded by God, as worshipers and watchmen who simply delight in Him. We are to tend and guard our Eden — our delight in Him — as He encloses and defends us.
No matter what our unique assignment is, this is God’s original model for our lives… the environment He desires us to live from, so we can fulfill His plans and purposes. This is how we experience His abundant life.
God’s original model was broken by mankind’s original mistake. Just one chapter later, Adam and Eve misplace their delight…
Genesis 3:6, AMPC
And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.
Eve’s sight, her focus, shifted from her One delight to an inferior substitute. As they found their "delight" in something other than God, Adam and Eve partnered with a lie and sin entered the world. The perfect model was broken. A vicious cycle of works without rest was born. And Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Returning to God’s original blueprint for our lives means returning to that place of delight in Him and Him alone. Your personal "Eden" with Him. The palmist reminds us to…
Psalm 37:4, NASB
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
In the Hebrew, that word "delight" means "to be soft or pliable." As we delight ourselves in Him, our hearts become like soft clay God can mold and shape. It’s imagery that takes us right back to Genesis 1. God formed man out of the dust of the ground. He got up close and personal, taking the dirt in His hands, molding and shaping our frame. Then God breathed His Spirit into us and we became a living being, modeled right after Him!
The prophet Jeremiah compares God to a Potter and us to clay, explaining that God shapes us into something that pleases Him. We are to be like clay in His hands (Jeremiah 18:5-6). Clay has to be soft and pliable in order for it to be formed into something. If the clay is hard, a potter will often pour water on it until it becomes pliable.
What is this water that God uses? It’s His Word. It softens our hearts. And look what happens when we mediate on it…
Psalm 1:2-3, MSG
"Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.”
We become like a tree replanted in Eden! Replanted in our place of delight! And from that environment, there is fruit, there is fulfillment of purpose! Anything done outside of this model ends in frustration and lack of true fulfillment.
Let Him mold you! Let Him shape your life. After all, that’s how He first made you — creating you, forming you, by hand out of the dust of the ground. Let Him do it again as a new creation!
And here’s what is most incredible… God delights in us! (Psalm 18:19; Isaiah 42:1). He takes great pleasure in you. In YOU is where HE wants to dwell. Our worship is the environment God wants to live in. He inhabits our praises. Wow. It’s us in Him and Him in us, delighting in each other.
You are His Bride, called to work from rest, covered and surrounded by God, as a worshiper and a watchman who simply delights in Him. Tend and guard your Eden — your delight in Him — as He encloses and defends you.
This is how the Creator intended it to be.