On The Vine
Hoping to Bear FruitArchive for In the Garden
Garden Wedding
I like to make observations of how Adam and Eve interacted, even though there isn’t much.
And there is something I noticed years ago, that I come back to often, and so I am reminding myself of that idea today, while I share.
The passage of scripture I am thinking of today is from Genesis 2: 15-22
God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.
God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.
So a recap of the important events:
God puts Adam in the Garden
God tells Adam not to eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God creates women.
The First Garden Wedding ever takes place!
Uhoh, do you see what I see?
Many years ago, when I first began grappling with this idea of submitting to my husband, the Lord showed me this passage in an interesting light.
Adam was there when God layed out the garden rule, but Eve didn’t exist yet, so inorder for Eve to know the rule, Adam had to tell her.
Inorder for Eve to obey God’s rule, she had to 1) trust that her husband was telling the truth, and 2) be willing to submit to what Adam told her God said.
Please know that I am not building doctrine here! I am not attempting to say the only way we can hear from God is by listening and submitting to our husband. I am certainly not saying that we do not need and have our own relationship with the Lord, in which the Lord speaks to us. (I am going to reindorce that it is neccessary to submit to our own husband!)
I am simply saying, that in this instance, I notice that a simple reading of this text, would indicate to me, that this rule was given to Adam, and passed on by him to Eve.
In this instance, God spoke to Adam, Eve didn’t get to hear from God herself.
I am suggesting, that from the very beginning,in the very first rule spoken by God, that God gave us an example of the importance of order in our marraige, that the husband would be the authority.
Yikes!!!
You mean it wasn’t just Paul’s idea?
Ofcourse we knew it wasn’t Paul’s idea. It’s all God’s plan.
But somehow, seeing it play out in the very first marraige, in the garden of Eden, has an impact on me!
Observations in the Garden
Would Eve have taken a bite of the forbidden fruit if the serpent had not had a conversation with her?
If the serpent had kept his two cents worth out of it, would Eve have sinned?
You may be quick to answer,
Quick to say, ofcourse she would have, she was a sinner from the start
Or quick to say, no, she fell when she was tempted.
I say, ofcourse she would have she was in the garden with her spouse. (LOL)
But consider it for a moment, and it may not be that obvious of an answer.
Adam and Eve were living in the garden, with only one tree they were not to eat from, and they had yet to sin.
That’s right, pre-bite of the fruit, Adam and Eve would have been living side by side, perfectly sinless.
Imagine if your spouse was sinless, boy the pressure would be on for you to clean up your act, HUH?
If he always put the seat down, you would always have to put the cap on the toothpaste.
If he always took the trash out before it overflowed, you would always have to run the dishwasher before it was packed.
If he always sat down on the couch immediately upon coming home from work to see how your day was, You would always have to hang up the phone from chatting with your girlfriend about the latest town gossip, did i say gossip, I think that is a sin too, which would have to stop if your husband quit cursing at the basketball game.
Imagine Adam, loving Eve perfectly as Christ would one day love the church. And Eve respecting Adam seamlessly. Imagine each fulfilling his or her role completely, perfectly, contentedly, without question or conflict.
Hard to imagine isn’t it? Hard to imagine what it would be like to live along side your spouse sinlessly.
Hard to imagine what it would be like to live in the image God created you, without the noise of the world encouraging you to be something else.
So back to the question,
The temptation existed from the time God said not to eat from that particular tree.
Did the serpent push Eve over the edge from temptation to sin?
Would Eve have jumped into the abyss of sin of her own accord?
What’s the point?
The point is, we have temptatin before us all the time, is there a serpent in our lives, pushing us over the edge?
Are we jumping off cliffs all on our own?
Are we a serpent in someone else’s life?
Are we bringing people to the line between obedience and sin, and inviting them to join us, on the wrong side of the tracks?
When you stand before the tree, how do you avoid temptation, serpent or no serpent?
Master Gardener
We have enjoyed gardening for many years now. Puzzler is the one who especially enjoys working by my side. Choosing what to plant, where to plant, even weeding, and ofcourse harvesting.
This past winter we moved to a little house in the big woods, and our gardening options are a bit more limited. After some reading we determined a container garden would work nicely for us! (I am hoping this cuts down on the weeding!) So we went to the nursery and carefully chose seeds and starter plants. Some fruit bearing, some for fun!
We purchased one in particular that is a vine. It was supported in the container by a small plastic trellis which it had already out grown. But rather than purchase a trellis, we determined that we could use fallen branches from the big woods to support the vine.
Upon transfering the vine to it’s new pot on the porch, we now had the task of disengaging the vine from the green trellis and transfering it to the beautiful twisted juniper branches we had carefully selected for its new support system. This process and the end result gave me a beautiful picture of the Lord as the vine and we as the branches.
I noticed that each of the branches held so tightly to the trellis. Sometimes wrapped 3,4 even 5 times around in one little spot, and then reaching for the next level on the trellis, and clinging just as tightly to that spot. I had to work slowly and gingerly so as not to break the branch.
It was then that I saw the trellis as my old life, before life with Christ. I held on so tightly to things of little or no significance. And the Lord has had to work slowly, tenderly and purposefully to show me how to surrender those things to Him.
If I had broken a branch, it would have been shorter, and yet likely continued to grow, but I wanted every inch of that growth. As does the Lord. He wants us just as we are to come to Him, and He can use all the life growth that happened before we surrendered.
I also noticed the tendency of the branches to follow one another. And to hang on together. They would intertwine themselves around the trellis clinging as tightly to one another as to the plastic. What a task to decipher how they had tangled themselves up and how to untangle them without breaking one.
We walk through this life with an impact. Whether we are purposeful or not. Other branches will be following us. There were those who followed me in my old ways, and those who follow me as I walk with the Lord. My Fruit Loops(children) follow my lead everyday. What am I teaching them to cling to? How am I teaching them to hold on? Do they know the source of it all?
Our vine on the porch has its first bloom, the vine is sustaining the branch, the branch is supporting the bloom, and the juniper is allowing it all to be displayed beautifully.
We need the Lord, we need one another, and we need the ups and downs of life for God to display it all for His glory!
