Our Faithful GodExemplo

It Is Good

My husband, Benji, and I often put our kids to bed, only to sit in our own bed and tell stories of all the darling things they’ve done throughout the day, frequently pulling up photos and videos we have taken on our phones to show one another.

“She is just so precious,” we will say, and, “I can’t believe how fast he is learning!”

We have just tucked them into their own rooms so we can be alone together, yet we sit and dote, amazed by these humans we get to shepherd. Like their parents, they are far from perfect, but I doubt you’d know it if you heard our late-night conversations or saw the delight in our eyes as we watched for the hundredth time the video of the baby saying bye-bye.

In a similar way, I imagine God gazing on His very favorite creation in Genesis: His children. His delight is fully in them and theirs in Him. There they stand, naked and unashamed in front of their loving Father, just as He created them to be. Fully designed for relationship with Him and fully designed for His glory. And God looks on them with love.

The picture of the idyllic garden in Eden is strikingly similar to a passage in Rev­elation 22, where this phrase is added: “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (verse 2).

Naked and unashamed before God, Adam and Eve needed no healing. But this side of Eden, we cry out for it and we trust that God will provide it. In the restored Eden, there will be no curse and there will be no night. God who formed us of dust and breathed life into us so desires us to be with Him that we will one day look upon His face forever. And His finished work will be good far beyond what we can imagine.

God’s finished work in the garden is good. His finished work on the cross is good. And His finished work in eternity is good. If things aren’t good now, we can rest assured that He is not yet fin­ished.

God is not finished with His healing work in your life. What would it look like to trust today that He is working for your good and restoration, even in the areas where you cannot see it?