THE STATE OF MAN BEFORE HIS FALL

   In the beginning, God imparted to man a great potential to reach His required standard. In this way, man possessed strength and an extraordinary ability to fulfil God’s heart desire. In practical terms, man was created with the potential to depend on God for his sustenance, both spiritually and physically.

Genesis 1:31a reads, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (NKJV). In the beginning, God saw the man He made, and behold, he was filled with all the divine abilities and was ready to sacrifice everything to satisfy his Creator. The Lord saw that man acknowledged His superiority and gave Him the first place in all his affairs. I can just imagine how man’s heart was craving for God and saying, “I cannot do it without You, Lord; I need Your hand, Your empowerment, Your guidance, and Your presence.” Thus, God, looking at this genuine state of his heart declared the Excellency of His creation (Genesis 1:31). 

   “To the faithful, You show Yourself faithful; to those with integrity, You show integrity” Psalm 18:25 (NLT). 

   As man was faithful to God and trusted in Him with all his heart, thus God presented Himself to him as reliable, trustworthy, and dependable. So, He provided for his needs even as he did not ask. Moreover, the Most High God laid aside His superiority as well as His royal power and brought animals to man for man to give names to them. Indeed, there has been a good relationship between God and man in the beginning.

   “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed” Genesis 2:8(ESV).

   “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat’” Genesis 2:16 (NKJV).

  “Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man” Genesis 2:22 (NKJV).

   “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die” Genesis 2:17 (NKJV).

   The above verses reveal two things. First, man with needs. And second, God as the Provider of man’s needs. Genesis Chapter two reveals that the first thing man needed after he was made was a shelter. Therefore, the Lord our Provider built a well-designed and all-inclusive garden for man (Genesis 2:8). Afterwards, man needed food to satisfy his hunger. So God who arranged for man’s feeding even before he was made, He delivered the abiding provision of food to man (Genesis 2:16).

   Since the things man eats can either sustain him or kill him, God commanded man as to what to eat and what not to eat (Genesis 2:17). This shows that the third need of man after he was made was instruction. In practical terms, God heightened the awareness of His will for man; what he must do, and what he must abhor. Man was in his comfortable place of residence, surrounded by ornamental plants, beautiful birds, and animals. As he was seeing the beast of the field, the birds of the air, the livestock, and the creeping thing in pair; that is, being male and female, his heart desired a suitable companion for helping him. Then, God made woman for man.

   In Psalm 37:4, the psalmist says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart” (AMP). Surely, if man diligently obeys the voice of God, his Maker, to carefully observe all the commandments which He commanded him, the Lord God will draw him closer to Himself and supply all his needs in due time. May the Lord grant us obedient hearts to always do all His will!