Mar 04 - ORDAINED TO BE WITH HIM

“The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen 2:15).

“The Lord God took the man” — Though God created millions of things in heaven and on earth, He took only man to Himself (as His son and as the object of His great affection).

“And put him in the garden of Eden.” The word for ‘put’ also means ‘rest’. The garden of Eden was the best place of rest for man. ‘Eden’ means ‘delight’. The Church of God (the true garden of Eden) is the place of rest and refreshing for a sinner saved by grace. ‘To rest’ doesn’t mean to be lazy and inactive. God put man there in the garden ‘to dress it and to keep it’.

The Lord God ‘TOOK the man’ before putting him ‘INTO the garden’ or into His service. The Lord continues the same principle now also. First of all, before we are called to serve Him, He takes us to Himself to be with Him. “He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach” (Mk 3:l4). Once we have learned to live with Him, He can send us anywhere. Now the danger is that many do not want to live with Him, but go without Him to preach and teach. Let us learn to be with the Lord with so that He may send us forth to serve.

Dear reader, our before we can ‘keep’ the garden of God, we should be able to keep ourselves. Keep yourself in the love of God and the love of God will keep you. Keep yourself in the presence of God and the presence of God will keep you.
 

 – Taken from Morning Manna – Thoughts for Daily Devotion