God reveals His special purpose for man in this verse. This tells us a lot about God, and His love for His creation. We’ve looked at how man was placed in the garden. There are a few other really neat things to see here, too.
First, The man had a purpose. Being bored isn’t fun. Even if a person has very limited brain power, they still want to be doing something. It might be seen as “play” to others, but even what children do is exercising their minds.
Think about it. When a child throws a ball in the air and tries to catch it, that child is learning about a number of things. They are seeing gravity at work. They are learning about how wind currents carry things, if they are outside. They are learning about angle of descent and depth perception and all kidns of neat things about how that ball falls. They are also learning fine motor skills – closing the hand around the ball – and large motor skills – moving the arms to reach out for it. They are learning how to use those, as well as hand-eye coordination.
This doesn’t mean that every time a child is playing he or she is actively trying to learn these things. And, some play is just idle fun. However, they are learnings kills which can then be used as illustrations when they learn how the body works, how gravity impacts things,a nd so on.
Man was given a job. His job was to keep the garden. Notice that God doesn’t say how the man was to do it. He could have put all sorts of interesting decorations and patterns in the garden if he wanted. His job was simply to dress the garden, and keep things growing. This, in turn, allowed him to keep his mind active. Considering the greatly advanced minds Adam and Eve likely had, his mind may have been on many things. However, one important thing could occupy his mind as he took care of the garden. He could fellowship with God, as noted earlier.
God wanted man to be able to learn all about the natural laws – like gravity – that He’d put into force, but more importantly, about His great love. The easiest wway to do that was to give the man the chance to be in wonderful natural surroundings, free from worry, and totally relying on God for his well-being.
So, why not just relax and “take it easy?” Because the need to relax only comes about because of our fallen nature. Yes, some people take it to an extreme, but even with those who would rather sleep than do anything, they are doing so because of something that is missing from their life, something which may indicate a chemical problem or it may indicate a spiritual problem.
Normally, though, people relax because they want to escape stress. There was no stress in the perfect Garden of Eden which God provided for man; or, to put it better, there wasn't the bad kind of stress. A certain amount is healthy; such as that created by a job you love, in a life with no worries.
That was life in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t need to worry about taxes, mortgages, family problems, or anything bad. He was like a small child, who has no cares in the world. In a good family surrounded by love, that child will have no worries. They know someone cares for them, loves them, and will provide all their needs and protect them from any problems. They are free to do their job. And, doing that job is very simple, because there are no worries to distract him or her. So, too, this man was free to do his job. And, since it had no burdens, no worries, associated with it, it was something which he would love.
