Rain, the Man and a Tree

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up –for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground – 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. – Genesis 2:5-9 (ESV)

Picture, if you will, what Genesis 2 tells us about the earth in those days. There was no bush in the field. No small plant had yet sprung up from the ground. Not a drop of rain had ever dampened the earth’s surface. No man had trodden its soil. The beautiful colours we attribute to our earth, the fragrance of the flowers, the lush green meadows were all absent. No gardens adorned the landscape producing their abundance. There was only barrenness. Verse 5 gives us two reasons for this.

First, the “Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land.” For the fruitfulness of the earth to become a reality, the first requirement was the rain of God. That rain needed to fall from the heavens and saturate the earth to bring life to what was dead and fruitless. God alone can bring these life-giving showers. If He does not give life, we perish. If He does not bless, we become a desert. Genesis 2:5 describes a time of barrenness without the life-giving and sustaining rain of God.

Whether in life or ministry, we need this rain of God. There is no fruit apart from His blessing. There is no lasting impact without the shower of His Spirit to refresh, empower, sustain and give life. How our world needs these showers of blessings. Whole communities shrivel up and die because they do not know this life-giving rain of God.

The second reason why there were no bushes or plants was because “there was no man to work the ground.” These words are striking. While life depends on God, God has entrusted His people with the task of “working the ground.”

Consider something about this man who was to “work the ground.” Who was he? Genesis 2:7 tells us that God “formed” him “of dust from the ground.” There is nothing more common than dust, but out of it arose the first man. Genesis 2:7 tells us that the Lord “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.” What is man? He is dust with the breath of God. It is this breath that gives life and consciousness. That lifeless formation of dust lay motionless on the ground until God breathed into it. But that breath changed everything. That dusty lump became a “living being.” What a contrast between the Giver of Life and the dusty lump in whom that life dwelt.

God breathed into His dusty creation, gave him life and put him in the garden He had planted. Then God made to spring up for him, out of the ground, trees of every kind for beauty and for food (verse 9). He entrusted him with the awesome task of working the garden, enjoying its beauty and delighting in its fruit. The man would rejoice in the mercy and goodness of his Creator giving Him praise.

This is how it was intended to be. But in that garden was a tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (verse 9), forbidden to man. To eat of its fruit was to die. The refreshing rain of God’s blessing would be withdrawn and the world he knew would be plunged into the curse of barrenness again. The choice was his to make—the refreshing rain or the curse of sin.

Years later we see the fruit of that decision. Death, like a great uncontrollable flood, overwhelmed the earth. The intimate fellowship with God broken, disease, sickness, injustice, abuse, confusion, and brokenness like tributaries of that great flood reached out their hungry tentacles devouring one soul after another. Where is the hope in all this?

The hope is in the fresh rain of God, renewed upon our lives and communities again.

Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field. – Zechariah 10:1 (ESV)

The hope is in a new Adam who, unlike the first, has conquered sin and the barrenness of the grave:

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. – 1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV)

The hope is in a new tree on which that new Adam died, bearing our sins:

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. – 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

Our hope is in a new dwelling where grows the other tree of Genesis 2—the tree of life:

2 Throughout the middle of the street of the city; also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. – Revelation 22:2 (ESV)

There in that city the blessing will be renewed. Fellowship restored, through the work of the new Adam, we will walk those streets of gold rejoicing once again in the bounty and blessing of our Creator. His Spirit will again breathe life into our mortal bodies through the forgiveness of the Son. What was broken in Adam, can now be renewed in Christ. Will you open your heart to receive this forgiveness, life and blessing in Him?