In the East of Eden – Where the Fruit of Love First Blossomed

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. Son 3:1  

And Love ‘saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good’

We were created for relationships – first with God himself - and secondly with each other. In Eden God had made a place ready for love. He had made for us a garden, ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them’ (Gen 1:27). And God blessed us. And God said unto us: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply,’ and make more relations.

We are a Living Soul Today Because the Breath of God is in us

The day got spent, and the night arrived. But the man was alone in that vast garden, and the first pang of loneliness gripped him. The skies above were lit, and the wind had calmed, ‘And the LORD God said, It is not good that [you] should be alone; ‘I will make an help meet for him’ – or her. We hardly know what God is up to, until it hits us like a bombshell. He is still a God of surprises. Are you lonely today? God sees it…

From Dust to the Poetry of Sleep and the Missing Rib

God was in the world writing his first book of love, ‘And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man’ (Gen 2:22). And Adam was enthused with a joy that echoed in the whole garden, ‘And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’ (Gen 2:23).  

Adam rubbed his rib cage in perplexity. And then he rubbed his head. Love was beginning to work things in him which no man (or woman) had ever known. This was Eden. And this was the garden which Love had planted there for their use. Adam loved her, and Eve loved him back. ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.’

Love, Jealousy and the Fall

But where love is jealousy is usually not very far away also. He saw two people in love and he didn’t like it (even today). The Bible says, ‘the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.’ And he moved with dexterity, ‘Yea, hath God said…?’ And this interested Eve. It still interests us today. ‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat’ (Gen 3:6). 

‘Darkness at Noon’

Something happened that day. Beauty got besmirched and the glory grew faint. And now we had a free hand to do as we pleased – or what the devil was pleased to make us believe - ‘Yea, hath God said…?’ And something larger than an apple stuck in Adam’s throat that day. A wave of pain swept through his body. And then he felt his ribs ache. Something had given way, and a fatal misspelling of the commandment of God had happened, ‘Yea, hath God said…?’

Adam looked at his wife and his heart bled. The love which God had breathed in him choked him, and the vision of his eyes dimmed even though it was only at noon.

‘But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear… Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands’ (Isa 59:2,6).  

Yea, hath God said she’s the only one for you… or has he said he is the only one you must have? Have you prayed about it? Have you waited? Have you made a place ready for love in your heart? Pray again. And wait again.  

Because we are now in a Place which is strewn with the Dust of death – And all Manner of Confusion

But God has refused to let go. This was his work. He must see it to the end – for his name’s sake. That’s why you and I are still alive today, praise God. And Jesus is here today, and love has progressed to something larger than a garden – even into a city, ‘For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come’ (Heb 13:14). Love goes to the utmost to make her his own bride.

So Can One Trust God for a Wife or Husband in Our Time?

The story of Isaac teaches us that one can indeed trust God for a spouse – and that God gives the best. But the story of his son Jacob is much more like our own – he trusted God in some things while he trusted in himself for others, especially where the matters of his heart were concerned. And the life of Jacob was one long in lies and jealousies and ‘all these things are against me’ until God changed his name and heart.

So God is still ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’ if we can only give him our whole heart and mind and soul first. And that is not a grievous commandment but it is for our own good - so help us God to believe it.