In Hebrew, the word Eden means “delight.” When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, it contained everything he’d need to enjoy life—streams, vegetation, rich soil, sunlight, plenty of food, and living creatures of every kind. God even provided another human (Eve), who would partner with Adam in ruling the world under God’s direction. No wonder God saw His creation as “very good.”

Sadly, all this delightful abundance was forfeited when the couple disobeyed God’s command and yielded to the serpent’s temptation. Driven out of the Garden, they found themselves in the wilderness where life was difficult, unpredictable, and dangerous. From that point on, Adam and Eve (and all their descendants) experienced the physical and psychological effects of the Fall—fear, shame, scarcity, illness, strife, jealousy, selfish ambition, violence, and death. It was a self-imposed kind of exile, a nightmare of their own making. But thankfully God’s love for us didn’t waver. His original desire to partner with us wasn’t abandoned. He would find a way to bring us back into the joys of Garden living with Him.

Satan, our spiritual enemy, would like us to believe that we can’t return to the Garden. But why listen to him? As Jesus pointed out in John 8:44, Satan “is a liar and the father of lies … there is no truth in him.”  We may be awaiting the final consummation of victory over sin and death, the time when we will dwell in God’s presence without interruption as described in Revelation 21-22, but there is a measure of this blessing that can be enjoyed even now. We don’t have to wait till we die to enjoy Garden life again.

When we are “in Christ” we live in a different realm than the rest of the world … even though our circumstances, challenges, and struggles may be the same as our neighbors. We still live in a messy, sin-sick world. But despite these realities, it’s also true that we are at this present moment “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The One that God promised to send in Genesis 3:15—the Savior who would “crush [the serpent’s] head”—is victorious over him! In 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 Paul writes: “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. He has anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Jesus unlocks all the promises and provisions of God. 

But there is a choice WE must make in order to enjoy the delights of Garden living. We can continue to struggle out in the wilderness, striving to improve our lives in our own strength. We can let our circumstances and feelings dictate how we experience everyday life. We can base our identity on the world’s values; we can react to difficulties by giving in to our sinful impulses—seeking revenge when we’re wronged or gratifying every lust and then living with the consequences of those actions. We can heed and believe the lies Satan throws at us. In other words, the people of God can live just like everyone else in the world does!

But we don’t need to. We can stop at some point, as the Prodigal son did, and think: “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father…” (Luke 15:17-18). When we, like the Prodigal, “come to our senses” we remember what awaits us at home. And when we return, ready to submit ourselves to whatever conditions are laid down, we’re just as astonished as he was to find we’re welcomed back without condition, restored to our original place of honor as a beloved member of the Father’s household.    

Returning to Garden living requires us to answer this fundamental question: What is our primary identity?Spiritual exiles are “foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Garden dwellers, by contrast, “know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19). How many of us really believe Romans 8:31-32? “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

The present-day Garden I’m describing isn’t spatial, of course. We won’t physically dwell with God until Jesus returns to set up His kingdom on earth. Neither is it deliverance from trouble or exemption from all pain and sorrow. Rather, it’s a refuge from the storms of life that can be accessed 24/7. Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish girl who kept a journal during her stay at Auschwitz, one of the Nazi prison camps, wrote “I want to be there right in the thick of what people call horror and still be able to say: life is beautiful. Yes, I lie here in a corner, parched and dizzy and feverish and unable to do a thing. Yet I am also with the jasmine and the piece of sky beyond my window.” What she called her “uninterrupted dialogue” with God sustained her through that horrendous time.

King David often retreated to this place of refuge in his tumultuous life too. In Psalm 61:2-3 he wrote: “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.”

Throughout Scripture we discover how faithful God is to those who trust Him. He provides “streams in the desert” and rains down manna every day when all other sources of food are absent. He provides shade for His people in the burning sun and illuminates their nights with His presence. He gives counsel when we’re confused and comforts us in our losses. He enables us to persevere when times are tough and supplies His strength when we’re too weak to battle our spiritual enemies. All these “garden delights” are ours because Jesus is our Yes and Amen!

Cody Carnes’ song entitled “Firm Foundation” says it well:

“Christ is my firm foundation, the Rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaken I’ve never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus ’cause He’s never let me down. He’s faithful through generations, so why would He fail now? He won’t! I’ve still got joy in chaos, I’ve got peace that makes no sense. So I won’t be going under, I’m not held by my own strength ’cause I’ve built my life on Jesus. He’s never let me down. He’s faithful in every season, so why would He fail now? He won’t!”       

Heavenly Father, thank you for providing a way for us to reenter your garden of delight. What a joy it is to freely commune with you and enjoy the abundant life you planned for us from the beginning. We rejoice in Jesus, who has won the victory through His death and resurrection. Help us, Lord Jesus, to keep our eyes on you and to trust in you when everything around us seems to be shaking. You are our firm foundation, our Yes and Amen. To you be all the glory! Amen.