Lent 2020 day 27

I ran out to get a perfect photo for today’s verse when Sam and the kids were gardening, but somehow whilst Sam and I were each recording and downloading devotionals for church using my camera we lost those photos! Never mind, having only just realised at bedtime, I took a photo instead of the plants I’ve felt very grateful for a few times today whilst working next to them...

’The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.’ (Genesis 2:15)

Ilan Garba Matta (Ulan works with @tearfund in the Jos Green Centre, Nigeria, as part of the Renew Our World campaign) writes:

“My default setting is to question everything. This verse made me ask: why did God put man to work and tend to the garden? Why didn’t he create the garden to sustain itself? Better yet, why didn’t he create a super-powered entity called ‘The Tender’ to take care of the garden?

Then I went back again to the beginning, when God created the Earth. With authority, God called things into being and told them what to be, and then took a moment to declare it good. God is deliberate about his plans for us.

Our all-knowing and all-powerful God says my role on earth is to tend and take care of his garden. This speaks to me of a gifted role in God’s plan. Of all the things that he could have declared me to be, this is the one God chose.”