“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” Genesis 3:17-19
This last Spring, someone got the idea to plant a vegetable garden at the Church. Many folks thought it a great idea! So with enthusiasm, several set about planting a garden to keep us all from starving, should an apocalypse come upon us. Since I possess NO skills for farming, I ran to the store to buy cases of veggies! Now, ‘The Garden’ serves only as a painful reminder.
Many a good idea has died on the vine simply because we tend to forget that (#1) no matter what we do, there is STILL an underlying curse upon us all. And (#2) we have an unrelenting enemy who hates us so much, he will not rest until he sees us completely destroyed. As Katie and I set out to undo what the curse had done, we were painfully reminded of those 2 basic truths.
The fence we had put up did little to keep out the rabbits, and NOTHING to keep out weeds. As UV rays broke down the plastic fence, tearing it out proved more work then anticipated. Standing in ankle high weeds trying to cut the zip-ties that held it to poles, I was visited by a welcoming company of fire ants! We hadn’t even started on the weeds and sweat covered my face! I felt cursed!
As I looked over the mess that was supposed to be a garden, I remembered the story of the FIRST Garden from my early Sunday School days. It was GRAND because GOD had planted it! Man was created AFTER everything was already made perfect. Adam and Eve were given the job of being in charge of maintaining it’s perfect standards. But someone got a bright idea… and history was born!
As sweat poured from every pore in my body, I felt God call me into the shade for a moment of His Son’s reflection. There, with the Holy Spirit’s leading, Jesus pulled it all together for me. Within nanoseconds, I was reminded of the curse that STILL exists today. AND of the sad fact that men STILL pursue bright ideas to circumvent God’s initial proclamation by saying “CURSE? WHAT CURSE?!”
I have learned that SOMETIMES… pain can be a blessing. The sad painful fact that sin and satan still reign on this Earth, actually serves to drive me to The Savior. Bad news serves to make the Good News all the more a blessing. Standing in weeds, sweating, with fire stinging my ankles, I actually smiled! Because I was reminded that, thanks to my Savior Jesus Christ, THIS Garden… ain’t my home!
Have you been feeling a little weedy lately? Why not step into the shade with the Son!
