January 2 Daily Devotional

Genesis 2

After the six days of creation we read, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them … And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good …and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” The Bible gives us this additional information about creation: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

“And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” So he “caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Thus God instituted marriage.

Adam and Eve enjoyed great privileges. God gave them to have “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” He blessed them, and said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” He also gave them for meat “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.”

They enjoyed other blessings. They were created in the image of God, after his likeness. They were without sin, without affliction and adversity; they walked in communion with their Creator. They were placed into the garden of Eden (Paradise) to dress it and to keep it.