In the tenth verse it says, “A river went out of Eden to water the garden,” the river of God’s blessing for the garden. That which originates in the garden first waters the garden. Sad to say, we can get the attitude that our responsibilities are so worldwide that we forget that the river was intended to water the garden first. “From thence it was parted, and became into four heads” (vs. 10), and from there it goes out. When a Christian home is established according to the mind of God, you will find that there Christ is the center. Where the responsibility that God has placed is acknowledged, the home is watered indeed and that home is a blessing to the whole earth. It goes out to the four corners of the world.
“And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (vs. 15). This word “to dress it” really means to till it — to work it. When it says “to keep it,” the thought is to guard it — to till it, to work it, to guard it. This is a very special word to those of us who are in that place of being the responsible heads of our homes. We are responsible before God to work our home, that is, to make sure that we are doing what the Lord would have us do in our home to make it the garden that God intended it to be.
It tells us in the Word of God that husbands are to love their wives. This is one of the principle ways in which we are to till our garden, to work that garden. The husband is to be the principle source of love in his home. That may sound a little strange, but that is the way the Word of God presents it to us, because our homes are patterned after the relationship of Christ and His church. We find that in Ephesians it says, “Husbands, love your wives,” but when you turn over to Titus, the teaching is that wives are to love their own husbands. The word that is used there is a less forceful word. It really has the thought of having a strong affection for your husband. It is the pattern that fits into the whole establishment of the Christian home. The young lady is not the one who goes out looking for the man. No, it is the man who, before God, has that exercise of having a bride. When he feels that the Lord has led him to the right young lady, then it is he who first sets his love upon her. It is a source of tragedy and a serious mistake when a young lady allows her heart’s affections to go out and to be fixed upon some young man before that man has given any indication of his feelings for her. That is not according to the pattern that the Word of God presents to us.