Driver Lifestyles

Where the Bible Meets the Road, vol. 3

Scarcity Produces Opportunities for Expediters

In the last edition of “Where the Bible Meets the Road” I wrote about the importance of the Old Testament. So many of you responded favorably and I do appreciate your comments and suggestion.

In this edition of “Where the Bible Meets the Road” I want to consider the fall from grace of Adam and the hidden blessings God gives to mankind as a result of the curse on Adam, his posterity and the whole world. That’s right; there are hidden blessings in the curse God declared on Adam and the world.

Now let’s get back to Genesis and consider the scarcity as a blessing from God.

Adam, God’s highest creation, was overwhelmingly blessed by God. He lived in a garden planted by God (Genesis 2:8) and sustained by God. It was full of abundance. Thus, scarcity in the garden was not a “big” problem, at least not at first. Suffice it to say, Adam had a perfect herb, fruit and vegetable garden that produced without much effort. Adam was to cultivate the garden but its production was not in question. Additionally, God had another command for Adam. Genesis 2:16-17 reads:

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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.”

God had given positive commands to Adam about tending and keeping the garden, but here God gives a negative command that should have been easily kept. Let me paraphrase. “Adam, you need to eat. Your life depends on it. You can eat anything in the garden except the fruit from one tree. That fruit bearing tree you are not to eat its fruit. Any other tree is fair game but not the tree of ‘the knowledge of good and evil’. If you eat of that tree, you’re a dead man.”

Now think about this for a minute. God made Adam. He planted an abundant garden for Adam to work in and eat from. This garden made the central valley of California look like a paved road. Adam was free from disease, free from interference from pests, weeds, thieves and didn’t even sweat when he worked in the garden. In short, he “had it made in the shade” (quite literally).

It was then that something profound happened. God revealed that unlike the animals, Adam was alone and needed a helper to complete his tasks. Not only would this helper (the woman Eve)be a blessing to Adam, she would be of absolute necessity for Adam as God required of Adam something beyond tending and cultivating the garden. In Genesis 1:28 God gave Adam and Eve another commandment:

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Not only had God lavished Adam with a perfect place to live and work; now He gave Adam a wife who was perfect in every way. The two of them were to bear children and fill the earth. Again, this was to be done in the context of God’s abundant blessings.

Then it happened. What? What happened? 

Along comes a God hater; Lucifer is his name and deception is his game. (I am not trying to make light of Satan or his influences. Rather, I am merely trying to use the vernacular to make my point.)

Satan began a subtle deception of Adam’s wife Eve. His deception was to call into question the very words of God. Satan inhabited a serpent and visited Eve in the garden. This serpent, who up to the time Satan used the form of the serpent to entice Eve, that serpent had never spoken a single word.

Eve, no doubt astonished by a serpent that talked, listened and conversed with the serpent. The first words from the serpent were “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” The serpent did not greet Eve, he did not ask how she was doing, no, the first thing the serpent did was to question the words and authority of God, the creator.

Unfortunately, Eve fell for the deception. Ultimately, Eve would be deceived into eating from the forbidden tree and she would entice her husband, Adam to do the same.

The effect of Adam’s disobedience touches all that exists on earth. For God’s response to his disobedient son Adam was to curse Adam, his posterity and the earth itself. Genesis 3:17-19 reads:

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
      “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it
      All the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
      And you shall eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
      Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken;
      For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

In these short three verses, God declared that scarcity and eventually death would be the consequences of sin for Adam and all his posterity.

This is a very sobering circumstance. What had been a life of abundance and relative ease would become a life of toil and uncertainty with regard to the success of one’s labor. Now before you get too irritated with Adam’s sin which precipitated the curse, every one of us has sinned and are deserving of the same curse Adam received. Indeed to the scriptures teach, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23)

As profound as this curse is in the extent of its reach, it has a similar profound reach as to the opportunities it presents. For example, because of scarcity, the trucking industry exists.  Without scarcity, trucking would vanish.

Put another way, because the earth was cursed and the growth and development of food was severely hampered, those who could produce more than they can consume are able to sell to those who are less productive. The same is true for everything bought and sold on earth. Those who can produce quality goods beyond their own consumptive needs can sell the excess because others cannot produce those goods as a result of scarcity.

Now think about the rest of life. Without God’s curse on all creation, we would not need hospitals, we would not need insurance, we would not need transportation, in short, our needs have multiplied because of God’s curse and therefore man responds with manifold efforts to lessen the effects of the curse.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, verse 28:

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Satan wanted to thwart God’s blessings to man and bring about death to man. He succeeded to a degree. Nevertheless, what Satan desired to be a shackle and burden upon man, God turned into a great opportunity for man to keep the dominion mandate and push back the effects of the curse.

God’s disobedient creatures can seemingly thwart the work of God at first glance, but, when careful reflection is made upon the feeble efforts of creatures, God’s grace and mercy shine forth with far greater than the meager work’s of the creatures. God is God and we are creatures. He (God) will do all His holy will and no man or creature (Satan) will turn His hand.