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 Genesis two seven.

Dear Heavenly Father, like Adam and Eve, I realize that I too get to make the decision to live together with you and divine unity.

To day, help me to make the right choices so that I can continue to thrive in this beautiful garden called life.

I will celebrate the fact that you have created the perfect life partner for me that will allow me to enjoy your many blessings and to experience the love and joy that comes with companionship.

I declare that life flows through me because you breathed your breath into my body.

I declare that I can live in vulnerability and transparency because in your presence is no shame or guilt.

Thank you for forming me and sculpting me out of the dust of the earth.

When life gets a little dirty and even messy at times, I will calm my soul because through to day's reading in Genesis two five to twenty four, I see you created amazing things out of dirt.

In Jesus name, Amen, thank you for praying with me to day.

Continue listening for an incredible Bible story brought to you by Bible in a Year dot.

Com Adam and Eves.

Previously.

In our story, we witness the creation of the universe.

Out of chaos and nothingness.

God made everything.

He spoke light and life into existence.

The glory of the skies, the galaxies, and the creatures of the Earth were made by God and declared to be good.

Now we will learn more about the creation of man and woman, made in the image of God, inspired by the Book of Genesis.

I'm so glad you've joined us on the Bible in a Year podcast today, But before we get to today's episode, I want you to know that I would absolutely love to send you my daily devotional that will give you fresh encouragement every single morning and day from the moment we wake up to the moment our head finally hits the pillow.

There are thousands of things demanding our attention.

But it's in the midst of all this crush and hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and truth in God's Word.

That's why I want to help you spend time each day growing in God's life giving life changing word by sending you my friend read daily email devotional PowerPoint Today.

So visit jagraham dot org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional.

That's Jagraham dot org Jack Graham dot org.

In our previous episode, we heard about the grand unfolding of God's act of creation, night and day, Earth, sky and seas, animals, plants, moon and stars, and humanity.

Today we take a microscope to the pinnacle of God's creation, Man and woman, his image bearers.

This is the story of the very first humans.

As you listen today, pay close attention to how God creates man, how he stands apart from the rest of creation.

Notice the great care God takes not only informing man, but in providing for him in every imaginable way, including a suitable companion, one that was perfectly made for him.

This isn't just the dawn of humanity, but the dawn of marriage.

Listen for what this passage teaches about the design of marriage and the designer of marriage.

Finally, you'll encounter a choice in today's story, a choice that God gives because He is not interested in forced worship, compulsory obedience, or artificial superficial love.

This story reveals God's heart to you, his care for you, his love for you.

It's a story about his desire for you to be fulfilled by him and in him, and for you to choose a relationship of trust with him.

So come with me, and let's take a look in Eden at the story of Adam and Eve and the perfect garden God gave them.

The world was new, and its refreshing mist was covering the land.

Streams and rivers flowed from the ground, giving life to all plans and living creatures.

The quiet and new earth, God was at work personally and intricately.

God formed a man from the dust, as a potter does with clay.

Then he breathed life into him.

God named him and knew him.

His name was Adam.

God made a dwelling place for Adam in a garden called Eden.

He placed Adam there, and it was filled with every tree that is pleasant and good for food.

In this garden, man's relationship with God began, and with that relationship a choice of free will.

There were two trees in the garden.

One was the tree of life, the other was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

God commissioned Adam saying, you may eat of every tree of the garden, but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if you do, you shall surely die.

This would be Adam's choice, for God does not desire relationship without free will.

Adam was with God in Paradise.

He dwelt in the garden that was filled with all things good.

Yet there was one thing that was not good.

God said, it is not good that man should be alone.

So the Lord caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep.

God, like a silent surgeon, took a rib from Adam's side.

From this rib, he formed a woman and breathed life into her.

At this moment, Adam's loneliness was quieted, and his soul and body were satisfied with her.

Adam then sang to her, and the two were married before God to this day, This is why a man will leave his family and become united with his wife.

They were naked and without shame, for there was no evil to corrupt the purity of their unity.

They made love, ate the food in the garden and cared for the earth and its animals.

God was in the garden with them, and it was still good.

Yet there still remained a choice to stray, a choice that would alter the course of all creation.

The dawn of man.

This was a different work of creation.

For all other created things, God merely spoke and things that were not suddenly were.

But for humanity it was different.

God took his own hands in the very dirt he had created and formed man in the image of his triune cell.

But he didn't stop there.

He didn't just fashion Man with his hands.

He breathed his very breath, his breath of life, into Adam.

Then God created a special place, a garden, for Adam.

Did you notice the nature of God's relationship with Adam.

This was not a created being without true choice, without freedom.

God created a true relationship with Adam.

And so he gave mankind a choice two trees, one full of good in life, the other of the past, to broken relationship and an untimely death.

And it was in this garden that God and Man were to live in communion, knowing each other intimately.

I imagine this garden as the very best of the very best in a perfect creation.

This was the most perfect place imaginable, where every single need Adam had was met, every need except one companionship and community.

Our trying.

God knew that to truly reflect his nature, this man would need to, as he does with the Son and the Spirit, live in community.

Up to this point God has said everything was good, But looking at the lone man, he said it was not good.

God created all the animals and brought them to Adam, who named each one of them.

But none were a fitting match.

You see, they were not part of Adam's own flesh.

They were distinctly different.

That simply would not do.

So.

Once again God set to work in creating with his own hands.

Genesis two twenty two and twenty three records the moment when God gave Adam this beautiful gift of a companion.

It says, and the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, at last, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

God gave Adam a helper, a perfect pair to be with him for mutual satisfaction.

Eve was created from man, and together they lived in a perfect place, at least for now.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Today's story tells us something very important about our need for community and companionship.

You see, whether you are married or not, God has created you to be in communion with others.

It is not good to be alone.

As God's image bearer, just like Adam and Eve, you are made to live in community, in unity with others, just as God himself exists in unity.

And the highest expression of this unity is seen nowhere better than in the marriage relationship created by God right there in the Garden of Eden.

Likewise, this story shows you that God has given you a choice.

Like Adam and Eve, you have before you the choice to follow God or follow your own desires.

It is a choice between life eternal and death eternal, and it's the most important choice you will ever make.

Dear Heavenly Father, just as you provided for Adam's every need, you continue to do so for us today.

You have created us for community with others and with yourself, and we thank you for that.

Oh Lord, help us to choose you and your ways, God, the way of life everlasting in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.

I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.

And before we go, I want you to know that I would love to send you my daily devotional to give you fresh encouragement every single day.

So visit Jack Graham dot org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional that's Jack Graham dot org