Watchman’s Daily Devotional: Because of Sin, Man’s Initial Destiny Was Limited by God

SRH: Because of sin, man's initial destiny was limited by God.

Man was given sovereignty over the entire earth by God, and the earth provided for all of his needs. All he needed to do was accept and be grateful for the ground that was given to him. However, after Adam committed sin, Satan seized power. The earth now governs man, creating a new order of dominance.

All you have to do to determine how true that is is to consider the amount of work required to bring the earth's ecological equilibrium back. These days, environmentalism is a buzzword. Even still, we are still powerless over the planet despite all of our contemporary technology.

Observe what transpired after Adam committed sin: man was forced to work hard and earn his keep by toiling from the ground (Gen. 3:18). Pain would accompany childbirth for women (3:16). Adam's family eventually became the victim of murder. Mankind had become so depraved that God had to wipe out almost all of humanity during the Flood.

Nowadays, a large portion of the animal kingdom is untamable due to its dread of humans. The soil used to naturally and abundantly produce pleasant things, but now it produces weeds, thorns, and other destructive things. The fall produced extremes of temperature, reptiles and plants that are toxic, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, hurricanes, and illness. No longer a monarch, man was reduced to a slave, a dying species engaged in a losing war with a dying planet.

The planet is amazingly conscious of its predicament: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it" (Romans 8:20). It now eagerly awaits the day of the manifestation of the sons of God, the believers, in the kingdom, when it will be freed from the shackles of corruption (vv. 19, 21–22).

In God's magnificent plan, the day is not far off when man will regain the dominion he once lost. May the Lord speed up its arrival!