- Finish what you start
In Genesis 1, we see that God created heaven and earth. He decorated them with light, life, and everything we need to live well. Day after day, God worked until heaven and earth were completed. Too many of us have started too many things and are yet to complete one.
You started school five years ago and said you would complete it, but you still haven’t finished. You began to build a house, a business, and even boundaries, but they are still on hold. You started a relationship—multiple relationships, I might add—and they all ended where they began.
Many years ago, the Holy Spirit convicted you to walk with Jesus, but you have yet to be baptized and fully surrendered to Him.
- Rest is not optional; it is fundamental
God, who created everything, rested. Whether God needed rest or not is beside the point. The Bible says He rested on the seventh day after He finished creation. We need to rest, but we’re not resting. Too many people are about the hustle and grind, teaching others to do the same. A farmer, a taxi driver, and a doctor have been working nonstop 7 days a week without proper rest.
A friend loves working so much that he says he feels sick when he’s not working. We need to respect ourselves and our bodies enough to schedule downtime to recuperate after completing our planned activities. We should also note that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Our rest day should be a blessing, not a day to be tempted to work or think about work—our minds should also be at rest.
Furthermore, since God is our example, our Father, we should do the same: take the day off, and get some R.E.S.T.!
- Without God’s breath, we are mere dust
This lesson is a good reminder that without God, we are dust. God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living soul. For perspective, the next time you go outside, look down at the dust at your feet as a reminder of your limited value without God.
We should concern ourselves with our souls more than we do with our bodies for two main reasons. Man can kill the body, but can’t kill the soul. A soul that is right with God will eventually receive a brand new body, but a soul surrendered to the enemy will be destroyed. Because we are so focused on the body, Satan takes the opportunity to use it to distract people from what truly matters, which then subjects the soul and the body to destruction in the judgment.
When we understand the soul, we will also not weep for our loved ones as others do. Yes, we will miss them, but we will know that the bullet, the sickness, or whatever it was that claimed the bodies of our loved ones has only managed to pierce dust, but the life, the living breath that God breathed, is not destroyed, at least, not yet.
- It is essential to have a pleasant demeanor
The Lord made every tree grow, which was pleasant to the sight, good for food, functional, and appealing. You don’t have to look like what you have been through. People won’t know you are the right fit for them because of how you carry yourself. They won’t know you are intelligent, a good business partner, and a true child of God because you are not approachable.
It’s the same with your business’s appearance. The front of your establishment requires a facelift. Your cake may taste good, but people need to be attracted by the presentation to be enticed to try it. Yes, it is good to create something functional, but the product’s appearance is what will draw people to it and to you.
Cadbury chocolate wouldn’t be what it is if it were placed in a plastic bag. Package matters, so package yourself properly.
- Eden is more than a garden
Having heard references to the Garden of Eden several times, we may think it is just a garden. Looking closely at vs. 8, we see that God planted a garden in Eden, eastward, and placed Adam in it. So what was Eden? Eden was a much bigger place. Looking at vs. 10, we also see the rivers flowing into the garden from Eden.
- God’s willingness to partner with man
How cool it would be if someone created a beautiful garden or a business and handed it to us to operate. We wouldn’t have to fund or maintain the project; everything would be given to us on a platter. It’s also cool that God gave Adam the authority to name the animals.
God’s willingness to partner with man also speaks to His character because, although He owns all, He is not selfish in wanting to stamp His name on everything. Adam could not create, but God did and allowed Adam to participate where he could, a true exemplary Leader.
- Man’s First Commandment and the Consequences thereof
In vs. 16, God authorized man to eat freely of every tree except one. Don’t miss it. So there would be no misunderstanding, God specifically told Adam which tree he should not eat from and what options to choose. If that wasn’t enough, God also outlined the consequences Adam would face for disobeying His commandment.
Adam and the woman knew what was expected of them when they were placed in the Garden of Eden, so they had no excuse. When people visit your home, let them know the rules and be upfront about the consequences. When I attended a particular boarding college, there were rules we had to follow. If you come to my home, there are rules, as I am at your workplace, church, at sea, you name it, there is at least one rule for where you are.
Rules are mainly to protect us.
Many of us have either given or received instructions whose consequences were only known after the agreement was violated. While I am not saying that one needs to know the consequences to obey, God’s openness to the consequences speaks to the transparency of who our God is.
- Don’t settle for what is available
After Adam was acquainted with all the cattle, fowl of the air, and beasts of the field, he could not find a help meet for himself. There was an even greater variety of animals back then, but Adam still did not see his match. Did Adam resort to bestiality, as some people are doing? No, he did not!
Instead, God, our creator, put Adam to sleep and created a woman of his kind. The point is not that you don’t see who you want; it means that you have to settle for what is available. The same God who created the universe and the woman for Adam can create the job, the spouse, and the dream that is not yet in the physical realm.
- We were not meant to be alone
Numerous studies are beginning to realize that we were not meant to be alone. We were created to be in a relationship, first with God and then with our fellow men.
- God was the first surgeon
Putting people to sleep and operating on them was first done by the One who created the body and understood the anatomy thereof more than anybody else.
Your assignment:
- What does leave and cleave mean to you? What are the pros of doing it God’s way and the cons of doing the opposite of what God instructed us to do?
- What other lessons can we deduce from Genesis 2 that can apply to our lives today?
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