https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/22/earth-day
God created the universe and the earth and all things in them. God then created man (humankind) and placed him in the Garden of Eden and it was man’s responsibility to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. Two distinct trees existed in Eden, the tree of life for which its fruits will ensure the immortality of man and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whose fruit is forbidden for man to eat because if man eats it, he loses his immortality. But the serpent came into the picture and created doubt in the mind of Eve whether it was really true that if they were to eat the forbidden fruit that they will surely die and as the fruit looked good (anything forbidden will look good!), Adam and Eve ended up disobeying God and was banished from the Garden of Eden, the land that they were supposed to work and take care. In the process, man was separated from God and had to toil hard on the soil at where they were.
We will now have the opportunity to return back to “Eden” one day in the new heaven and new earth promised in Revelation 21 if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as Jesus as the second Adam, the Son of God and yet the Son of Man, had redeemed mankind by dying on the cross as the unblemished and pure Lamb of God.
What is our land? Where is our place of influence? What has God appointed us to be? Where is this place that we are to work at and take care of? Where is the Garden of Eden that God had prepared for us?
I have shared before that the Kingdom of God is where we are. Our homes are embassies of the Kingdom. We are an extension of the presence of God as the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So our business, our place of work, our school, our college – those are our sphere of influence. That is our land, the place God has appointed us to work at and to take care.
Is our land a permanent physical place? Should we remain at the same place of work till we retire? Should we reside only at one house for our entire life? Should we only do that one business for our whole life and for generations to come? Our land is where we are and if God has placed us at our present work location, then that is our land. We work at it and take care of it. But be open to the prompting and the still small voice of God that doesn’t usually come in the thunder and the fire and storm but just a still small voice. Listen to the voice of God and like Abraham He may call us out of our land to another land far away, the Promised Land that He will raise generations of descendants that are as many as the sands at the seashore and as numerous as there are stars in the sky, out there in the vast universe. Like Moses, He may call us out to rescue His people from slavery and captivity or like Joseph make us go through various difficult situations before settling as the deputy to the most powerful man in the most powerful nation then, in order that the few generations of the Abrahamic may survive the great famine and live on. Or like Joshua, He may call us out to conquer our Jerichos and do battle with the sons of Anak, the fortified cities and strong armies of Canaan.
Work our land and take care of it! If like Adam and Eve we have been banished from our original land, we now need to toil and take care of the land where we are now at. Work at it, take care of it. In the end, our land is where God places us!
Ronnie's Thoughts 