Garden of Delight

Good Morning all, today I would like to share my thoughts on the subject of being fulfilled ; not content, not satisfied but fulfilled... We will take a look at two of  three men in scripture who had everything that pertains to life and godliness and yet found themselves still searching.


Adam:  The First Man

David: The Favored Man

Solomon:  The Futile Man






Let us begin with Adam many of us are familiar with the creation story...  Adam was created in the image and likeness of God with the ability to exhibit compassion and forgiveness, rule in authority and have dominion over the earth , just to name a few. He ; along with the trees , beasts of the field and birds of the air were made from the ground. No one could take credit for their coming to be ... except God.

God prepared the Garden with all its splendor and amenities, so that when He placed His son there all Adam would have to do is name the animals and enjoy the place he was in. There were two trees in Eden, The tree of Life which is rather self explanatory and The tree of the knowledge of good and evil which speaks of man`s will and his obedience.


Many of us can attest to this today that we could be smack dab in the midlle of the land of abundance and yet have the nerve to be discontented... and yes we know this is because of the fall.  Adam had a intimate relationship with the Father, they conversed with one another, he was  placed in a deep sleep  and presented a helper comparable to him, he didn`t have to go grocery shopping, always had company , did not have a bunch of people vying for God`s affection .... but was yet unfulfilled. 
 
We are creatures of habit and whatever peaks our interest can easily drive us away from a place of purpose, looking for the next quick fix.  Adam found himself lured away by his own desire to have the very thing that God wanted to withhold, not because God is a taskmaster or wants us to be puppets, but as the saying goes... Father knows best.   Many blame Eve but  Adam knew what God told him and the desires of his heart coupled with an opportunity, brought about the fall ... Eve could not push  Adam to do anything that wasn`t already pulling on his heartstrings. In his pursuit of happiness he ate of a fruit that  turned out to be sour grapes to say the least ...Thus bringing about man`s desire to control his own destiny.
 
Now let`s look at the wisest and richest man ever to live: Solomon, being the son of a king twice over ; first the King of Glory and then king David..  we find  him in the book of (Ecclesiastes chp 2). pouring out his heart like a drink offering ... He was not satisfied with his intellect even though he knew more than everyone besides God of course... Speaking from experience people who are intelligent need to pray for balance, the  more information we recieve ; the less information we retain.
 
Why ? glad you asked...  because we do not take the appropriate amount of time to digest what we have gathered,  and  immediatley  find ourselves seeking  to gather more data ... So as it is with the grave and a barren womb ... we are never satisfied.  He was learned in the sciences, history, philosophy, literature, religion and the learning of languages , just to name a few... but still felt like something was missing... Putting on the mind of Christ and allowing our minds to be transformed by the Word of God is our only line of defense....as knowledge puffs up , humility decreases. 
 
Next we find him pursuing everything from the pleasures of the world, to real estate, to drinking and frollicing . I am in no way saying God does not want us to enjoy life , But this world is not designed to provide us with the totality of happiness, if it were so most of us would never want to leave, thus forfeiting the gift of eternal life in heaven.  (Psalm 16:11)
 
Many have tried and are yet failing to live the life designed for heaven while still on earth .  Prestige , fortune, and notoriety which is closley assimilated with   being "notorious" seem to be our goals . Have we become more concerned about owning a business than serving in the Kingdom and being about our Father`s business ?  And at  what expense ?...  grieving the Holy Spirit or worse the of losing our souls ? Solomon had more than everybody else and still felt like  Whitney Houston.. he had nothing, nothing, nothing...
 
Solomon had  tactical military units,  male and female servants... herds and flocks of insurmountable proportions, but may have become  so consumed with sitting at the table and being served... that he forgot, even as king he too was a servant. He was thirsting for the one thing that could quench him ... God, but chose to reject the living waters from the Fountain of life in order to drink from the cess pool of  self absorption.
 
He engaged in many forms of entertainment and laughter only to still be depressed. I can attest to this truth... about 18 months ago I had to see  someone to address my bout with depression... I put it off as premenstrual, to maybe if I got married , to cut  your hair off, which in OT testament times was associated with mourning;  to oh just lose some and you weight you will feel better... WRONG.  After still attending church regularly, fasting, praying, bible study,  and denial I had to admit  while
 self deception was taking place in my life , my failure to address it was taking the place of my life.
 
As a young child I was the class clown, telling jokes for the sole reason of disguising my pain.. I recently found out that comedians have a very high suicide rate... due to the fact that while they are making you forget about your cares for that moment in time, they are actually being tormented by the selfsame thing they are urging you to get over. 
 
May we take a page or 2 from these men and their lives and learn that while we are on this journey called life, may we not go on a ego trip trying to accomplish on earth that which God has already settled in heaven.
 
 
Log in tomorrow as I share what`s on my heart about King David... See ya then; same time, same blog channel.
 
Tina...