Hennie Symington

“The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45

A garden must have been very dear to the heart of God, because that is the way He created the earth ‒ as a garden where everything grew in a divine interaction with nature. Then He made man to live there as the first gardener on earth. More than that: he was God’s soulmate with whom he could talk as they wandered through the garden. An idyllic picture indeed. Yet, man manages to spoil this idyllic garden with its divine Gardener. The result was that the man and his wife, were driven from the garden and forced to make their own way amongst the thorns and the thistles.

However, the longing for the perfect harmony between the Creator and the man He had made persisted in the heart of God. Throughout history God does everything in his power to reconcile him with his people. We read about Abraham who offered to slaughter his son to make amends, but in the nick of time a ram appears in a thorn bush. And when God’s people were threatened by extinction in Egypt, a child appears in a basket on the river. And at last, when the time was ripe, God planted a new sprout: His own Son. And when Satan succeeded in crucifying the Son, He rose from the dead and breathed new life into creation.

And now after many bleak winters, man, despite his brokenness, is reinstated as God’s gardener. We have become the harbingers of spring, blossoms which point to a new dispensation. We have been appointed to spread the pleasing aroma of the Good News and to offer the possibility of new life because we have been reborn. Ask yourself: To what extent am I a signpost to the Garden? Am I a peacemaker, one who walks the second mile, or one that chooses to see only death and decay and washes his/her hands of these times?

Prayer: Lord, our world is becoming more and more uninhabitable. We seek our salvation in power, riches and glory, instead of standing still and looking back over a history of a God who saves, a God who loves and a God who hears. Amen