I want to be in Eden

I had the opportunity the other week to do a baby dedication at my previous place of ministry, Southside Community Church in Milton, ON.  It was a great time to be with friends, to be an encouragement and to give a challenge to Rob and Erin as they presented their daughter, Eden to the Lord.

Genesis 2:10-14 teaches us that a river was designed to flow from the Garden of Eden and it was to bring life and vitality to everything along its way.  We know that the river is a picture of the Holy Spirit and as followers of Christ, rivers of living water were meant to flow out of us.  We were created to experience the flow of God's living presence through us.

The biblical name coming from the Garden of Eden meaning a place of pleasure, a place of delight.  It was the place where God met with Adam and Eve and in that perfect place God walked with them in the garden.  We only know this after the fact, after the realization of sin, but they knew God in a very real and intimate way and that is how we were designed.

Phil Wickham captures the essence of this in his song called, Eden:

I wanna see you face to face
Would be in your arms is the permanent state
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

I remember how'd You call my name
And I would meet You at the garden gate
How the glory of Your love would shine
And I remember when the stars were young
you breath into my lungs
Oh I never felt so alive

Where my eyes can see the colors of glory
My hands can reach the heaven before me
Oh, my God I wanna be there with You
Where our hearts will beat with joy together
And love will reign forever and ever
Oh my God I wanna be there with You

Psalm 37:4 tells us to 'delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.'  That word delight carries that same expression of Eden, a place of pleasure.  As the famous and often quoted John Piper said, 'God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him'  

In coming to Eden, we say God I am committed to walking in your way, I want the righteousness of your Son to shine like the dawn in me!  Another good reason for an Easter Sunrise service :)  So, it is our LORD, the covenant keeping, relational God manifested in Jesus who will make the justice of our cause shine like the noonday sun.   So, be still before the Lord, wait patiently for him; don't fret when evil seems to be winning the day because our God will rise and show Himself faithful.  Don't sell out to lesser gods as we continue to wait on Him and as He becomes alive in us!