A reprint of the Greene Street Letters from June 18, 2001
Genesis 3:23
Therefore, the Lord God sent him (Adam) out from the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
This verse caught my eye last week as I was reading and sparked something as I studied it. The phrase "to cultivate the ground from which he was taken" seem to speak to me.
We know that Adan and Eve had broken covenant with God and, as such, had been removed from the garden. God cursed the ground on Adams' behalf that it would only yield its fruit and produce from the sweat and work of the man. But now for some reason, God has taken Adan and given him the task of cultivating the ground from which he was taken.
We can look at this phrase (the ground from which he was taken) from two different points.
1.) God placed Adam in a place using the generic term for ground. By this, I mean that Adam cultivated the substance that God used to form him.
2.) This place God put Adam was the THE very spot Adam was formed from. The very place that God reached down and took the dust from.
If we view this verse using the second view that how would you have felt if you were Adam? How would you have felt about getting up every morning and going to the place that reminded you of every thing you had lost. How would you have felt every time you chopped a weed or plowed ground, being flooded with memories of Eden and what it had been like to live there?
What must it have been like to feel the cool breeze on our cheeks as day turned to dusk and remember that it was this time of day when God came down to walk with you? Every time you caught the smell of freshly turned soil, your very being groaned over your mistake.
What I have described here is not what I believe God had intended for Adam to go through. I am fully convinced that God did not place Adam in this place to work so that he would remember what he had lost. Adam was paying for the consequences of his sin. I do believe that we may view our circumstances sometimes when we find ourselves struggling with our past, especially past mistakes.
You see, our human nature (especially when driven by our flesh) has a tendency to not be able to get over or around my past deeds. I have prayed for many (including myself) that seem destined to wallow in past mistakes, never being able to free themselves and move on. The memories serve as a personal jail to keep them bound up and in fear.
Where does this reaction to past mistakes come from? The devil! He loves to keep our attention focused on the mistake. This keeps us from seeking forgiveness and mercy and grace from God so we can get on with the business of life and His Kingdom. It's not that God won't forgive us and cleanse us from past mistakes....He will. We have a tendency to not let Him because we buy into the lie that God can't forgives someone like us...we are too bad or our sin is too great.
Either Romans 8:1 is true or it is the ultimate cosmic joke!
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
In the above verse, when is there "NO" condemnation? NOW! Not yesterday, so that you feel like you've missed it. Not tomorrow, so that you feel as though you have to wait for it, but now! This moment! This day.....NOW!
Webster's defines condemnation as To pronounce unfit for use.
The enemy is the one who brings condemnation on you. It is his lying voice that whispers, "You'll never change, you'll always be tied to sin...see I told you could not live in freedom. Why that freedom is for others...not you."
When someone is condemned in the court system, it usually means the death penalty has been applied for the crime in question. Same sentence is pronounced in the devil's kingdom. He merely says, "Here you go, you sinner. You deserve to die." His goal is to simply keep your sin before your eyes without offering any hope.
But God's Spirit is a convicting spirit. Webster's defines conviction as "To prove guilty and relegated to serving a sentence." Yes, when I sin I confess my guilt, but Jesus through his death and resurrection nullifies the sentence and we receive his pardon or forgiveness. Cool huh? So lets see...condemnation or conviction? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
Galatians 5:1 reads: It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
God did not place Adam in the place of his origin to constantly remind him of all he had lost. God placed Adam there to give him hope. God was saying, "Adam, this is what I am going to restore in you and to you. All those thing that were lost." He wanted Adam to not spend his time focused on what was lost or the mistake that was made, but to look and see the goodness and hand of God around him. God was giving Adam hope and faith that the work that was begun by God's hand would be accomplished.
Philippians 1:6 - For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
My confidence is not placed in me or in what I can do, but in Jesus and what He can do when I say, "Yes" to him. Don't let the devil rob you of your life by condemning you to a yoke of slavery to your past. Let Jesus set you free so that you can experience real life and not merely an existence.
God on you........
mb
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