Thursday, March 31
As soon as God created the first man, He offered him three gifts: the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8), food (Genesis 2:16), and the woman (Genesis 2:22).
Read Genesis 2:15-17. What is man’s duty toward creation and toward God? How do these two duties relate to each other?
The first duty of man concerns the natural environment in which God has put him: “to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). The verb ‘avad, “dress,” refers to work. It is not enough to receive a gift. We have to work on it and to make it fruitful — a lesson that Jesus will repeat in His parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). The verb shamar, “keep,” implies the responsibility to preserve what has been received.
The second duty concerns his food. We have to remember that God gave it to humans (see Genesis 1:29). God also said to Adam that “thou mayest freely eat” (Genesis 2:16). Humans didn’t create the trees, nor the food on them. They were a gift, a gift of grace.
But there is a commandment here, as well: they were to receive and enjoy God’s generous gift “of every tree”. As a part of this grace, though, God adds a restriction. They should not eat from one particular tree. Enjoying without any restriction will lead to death. This principle was right in the Garden of Eden and, in many ways, that same principle exists today.
The third duty of man concerns the woman, God’s third gift: “shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife” (Genesis 2:24). This extraordinary statement is a powerful expression that highlights human responsibility toward the conjugal covenant and the purpose of being “one flesh”, meaning one person (compare with Matthew 19:7-9).
The reason it is the man (and not the woman) who should leave his parents may have to do with the biblical generic use of the masculine; hence, perhaps, the commandment applies to the woman too. Either way, the bond of marriage, though a gift from God, entails human responsibility once the gift has been received, a responsibility that rests upon both the man and the woman to fulfill faithfully.
Think about all that you have been given by God. What are your responsibilities with what you have been given?
Friday, April 1
Read Ellen G. White, “Science and the Bible”, in Education, pp. 128; “The Creation,” in The Story of Redemption, pp. 20.
“Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony. By different methods, and in different languages, they witness to the same great truths. Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other. They make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the laws through which He works.
Inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature have, however, led to supposed conflict between science and revelation; and in the effort to restore harmony, interpretations of Scripture have been adopted that undermine and destroy the force of the word of God. Geology has been thought to contradict the literal interpretation of the Mosaic record of the creation. Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos; and in order to accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation are assumed to have been vast, indefinite periods, covering thousands or even millions of years.
Such a conclusion is wholly uncalled for. The Bible record is in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature.” Ellen G. White, Education, pp. 128, 129
Discussion Questions:
1. Why would the quality of our faith be affected if we believed that these stories of the beginnings were legends, “myths” essentially designed to instruct us in spiritual lessons but without historical reality? What clues in the biblical text suggest that the biblical author knew that they were “historical” just as the rest of the stories in the book of Genesis are? What is Jesus’ testimony about the historical truth of these stories?
2. What does the Genesis story teach us about the importance of stewardship of the earth? How can we be good stewards of our planet while, at the same time, avoiding the danger of all but worshiping the creation itself, as opposed to the Creator, which is a very real temptation? (See Romans 1:25.)
3. Despite the ravages of sin over the long millennia, in what ways does the original wonder and beauty and majesty of the “very good” Creation still manifest itself to us, speaking to us in powerful ways of God’s goodness and might?
