JUNE 23, 2015
Shopping with
Liam
He
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. —Genesis 3:15
Read:
Genesis
3:14-19
My son Liam loves to pick dandelions for his
mother. To date, she hasn’t wearied of receiving them. One man’s weed is a
little boy’s flower.
One day I took Liam shopping with me. As we
hurried past the floral section, he pointed excitedly to an arrangement of
yellow tulips. “Daddy,” he exclaimed, “you should get those dandelions for
Mommy!” His advice made me laugh. It made a pretty good Facebook post on his
mother’s page too. (By the way, I bought the tulips.)
Some see in weeds a reminder of Adam’s sin. By
eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve brought on themselves the curse of a
fallen world—relentless work, agonizing birth, and eventual death (Gen.
3:16-19).
But Liam’s youthful eyes remind me of
something else. There is beauty even in weeds. The anguish of childbirth holds
hope for us all. Death is ultimately defeated. The “Seed” God spoke of in
Genesis 3:15 would wage war with the serpent’s offspring. That Seed is Jesus
Himself, who rescued us from the curse of death (Gal. 3:16).
The world may be broken, but wonder awaits us
at every turn. Even weeds remind us of the promise of redemption and a Creator
who loves us.
Help us, Father, to find You even in the midst
of all life’s pain and aggravations. Forgive us for so often overlooking the
beauty You have planted everywhere.
Creation reminds us of the promise of redemption.
INSIGHT:
After the fall, Adam and Eve were barred from the Garden of
Eden by cherubim (angels). God then established a form of worship to teach the
necessity of a Savior to regain access to His presence. Of the tabernacle and
then the temple, God said, “I will speak with you from above the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubim,” which were fashioned out of gold and stretched
their wings over the mercy seat (Ex. 25:17-22). The reminder of God’s holiness
and the need for sacrifice and mercy were central to Old Testament worship.
Source: Our Daily Bread 2015
