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The Perfect Life (Gen 2:4-17).
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for your word, which gives life to us. We pray that you may mercifully meet with us now and speak to us and help us as we open your word together, begin this new series of studies in the narrative of Eden in the book of Genesis. We ask for your help, for your gracious mercies, and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:4-17.
Meditation
If you got to write the script for your life, what would your idea of the perfect life be? Just let you imagination run wild for a second. Would you give yourself an IQ of 200? Maybe make yourself into a Hollywood Movie star? Perhaps you just want to tweak a few things, maybe make yourself ten centimetres taller, and ten kilograms lighter. Perhaps you’d give yourself the body of a body builder, and maybe you’d do a bit of editing too – perhaps you could do without one or two of the trials you’ve had in your life. Perhaps you’d like a change of degree or career. It would be good if cancer was out of the picture, and we could do with those anxiety problems. The chronic headaches and long term illnesses can go. It would be great to give our long lost loved ones a few more years of life. Actually, why not write death out of the script altogether since we’re writing the story!
Life as we now know it is far from the ideal that we desire, and yet the question is there: What actually is the ideal? What does that actually mean? What would that actually look like? In this series of studies, which pick up at the very beginning of the story of the human race, provide insight into this question. Truth be told, if we could write our own script, there’s every chance we would mess it up. If you don’t believe me, go and read Ecclesiastes 2. King Solomon did write his own script, he gave himself every pleasure under the sun, and what was his conclusion? In the end, he found that his heart was not satisfied, and that everything he had quickly disappeared anyway.
Solomon made another interesting observation along these lines as well, in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” There is actually a way that things were meant to be. There is an “ideal life” dancing around the edges of our imagination. As we study life in the garden of Eden, we’re going to also see that this is real. It was real in the beginning, and it shall be real again at the end. In our studies of the Edenic Narrative, we will see this very clearly. But we must begin in the beginning.
Genesis is a historical narrative. That is the first thing we must keep in mind, and in every narrative, you’ve got a few key ingredients. You’ve got the set-up, there are the main characters. There is a relative balance, perhaps a peace, at the beginning, and then something in the narrative goes drastically wrong. The idyllic life in the story is threatened, and then a hero emerges to save everyone from danger and restore peace again. So it is in every good fairy tale. But one of the things that we need to realise is that all the stories we tell, they are all shadows – in one way or another – of the biggest story of all. It’s the story that we ourselves are living in. The true story of history, the story that God is telling and has been telling since the dawn of time.
Be ye doers of the word…
As we look at life in the garden throughout the course of these studies, we’re going to see that idyllic start of the story – so to speak. Life as it was supposed to be. Life as God originally designed it. And – in the bigger picture – what we need to realise is that, even though paradise has been lost to us, there is still a bigger plan and a bigger purpose unfolding. Ultimately, God’s intention is to restore what was lost, to bring us back in to the idyllic garden where he dwells. If you read the last chapters of Revelation, you’ll notice numerous parallels with the edenic narrative early in Genesis. In Genesis, in the garden, the trees the river, the gold – it’s all there at the end as well in Revelation. The beauty of the beginning thus anticipates the fullness of the ending. We will see this again and again during the course of the Edenic Narrative. For now, what can we take away from this? Think about your idea of the perfect life right now. What are you seeking to improve in your life? Consider if these goals line up with God’s idea of the perfect life. And here at the start of this series, commit yourself to following through these studies to better align your view with God’s. May he lead us into the perfect life, through our Lord Jesus Christ! SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
We pray, Lord, that you would please align our desires and goals for our own idea of the ideal life. And you would reform and remake us, Lord, that we might share your view and vision for what the ideal life is. Please deliver us from our sins and from the evil one, we pray. And may you bless us in the reading and studying of your word today and in days to come. And these things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe
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By Reformed devotions from all of scripture.Prayer
Lord God, thank you for your word, which gives life to us. We pray that you may mercifully meet with us now and speak to us and help us as we open your word together, begin this new series of studies in the narrative of Eden in the book of Genesis. We ask for your help, for your gracious mercies, and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:4-17.
Meditation
If you got to write the script for your life, what would your idea of the perfect life be? Just let you imagination run wild for a second. Would you give yourself an IQ of 200? Maybe make yourself into a Hollywood Movie star? Perhaps you just want to tweak a few things, maybe make yourself ten centimetres taller, and ten kilograms lighter. Perhaps you’d give yourself the body of a body builder, and maybe you’d do a bit of editing too – perhaps you could do without one or two of the trials you’ve had in your life. Perhaps you’d like a change of degree or career. It would be good if cancer was out of the picture, and we could do with those anxiety problems. The chronic headaches and long term illnesses can go. It would be great to give our long lost loved ones a few more years of life. Actually, why not write death out of the script altogether since we’re writing the story!
Life as we now know it is far from the ideal that we desire, and yet the question is there: What actually is the ideal? What does that actually mean? What would that actually look like? In this series of studies, which pick up at the very beginning of the story of the human race, provide insight into this question. Truth be told, if we could write our own script, there’s every chance we would mess it up. If you don’t believe me, go and read Ecclesiastes 2. King Solomon did write his own script, he gave himself every pleasure under the sun, and what was his conclusion? In the end, he found that his heart was not satisfied, and that everything he had quickly disappeared anyway.
Solomon made another interesting observation along these lines as well, in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” There is actually a way that things were meant to be. There is an “ideal life” dancing around the edges of our imagination. As we study life in the garden of Eden, we’re going to also see that this is real. It was real in the beginning, and it shall be real again at the end. In our studies of the Edenic Narrative, we will see this very clearly. But we must begin in the beginning.
Genesis is a historical narrative. That is the first thing we must keep in mind, and in every narrative, you’ve got a few key ingredients. You’ve got the set-up, there are the main characters. There is a relative balance, perhaps a peace, at the beginning, and then something in the narrative goes drastically wrong. The idyllic life in the story is threatened, and then a hero emerges to save everyone from danger and restore peace again. So it is in every good fairy tale. But one of the things that we need to realise is that all the stories we tell, they are all shadows – in one way or another – of the biggest story of all. It’s the story that we ourselves are living in. The true story of history, the story that God is telling and has been telling since the dawn of time.
Be ye doers of the word…
As we look at life in the garden throughout the course of these studies, we’re going to see that idyllic start of the story – so to speak. Life as it was supposed to be. Life as God originally designed it. And – in the bigger picture – what we need to realise is that, even though paradise has been lost to us, there is still a bigger plan and a bigger purpose unfolding. Ultimately, God’s intention is to restore what was lost, to bring us back in to the idyllic garden where he dwells. If you read the last chapters of Revelation, you’ll notice numerous parallels with the edenic narrative early in Genesis. In Genesis, in the garden, the trees the river, the gold – it’s all there at the end as well in Revelation. The beauty of the beginning thus anticipates the fullness of the ending. We will see this again and again during the course of the Edenic Narrative. For now, what can we take away from this? Think about your idea of the perfect life right now. What are you seeking to improve in your life? Consider if these goals line up with God’s idea of the perfect life. And here at the start of this series, commit yourself to following through these studies to better align your view with God’s. May he lead us into the perfect life, through our Lord Jesus Christ! SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
We pray, Lord, that you would please align our desires and goals for our own idea of the ideal life. And you would reform and remake us, Lord, that we might share your view and vision for what the ideal life is. Please deliver us from our sins and from the evil one, we pray. And may you bless us in the reading and studying of your word today and in days to come. And these things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe