Genesis 2:8-15
God Creates The Garden of Eden
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Exodus 13:18-22 (KJV)
God Leads His People in the Desert
18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
20 And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
God created a Paradise on earth with beautiful plants and flowers and blossoms and colors...It was the Garden of Eden...And Eden was plentiful...But after we fell from His Grace, things changed...We needed God in Eden and we need God everywhere we go...But do we realize this until we are confronted with these thoughts of our environment and the places we are living...
When God started His nation of Israel and they were to travel from Egypt to the Promised Land...They would have to go through the desert to get there...And in the desert wilderness it is very trying on man and woman and animal...The dry hot climate shows us that we are in need...And we need water, we need food, and we most of all need God...And the desert shows us these things as man travels across the hot, dry, desolate places month after month, and year after year...The desert is lonely, with little color and seemingly empty...Yet, this is the place God chose His people to wander for forty years to find there new home...
God had promised His people a land of milk and honey and they would have to endure the hardships of the desert for a generation...The place they traveled was an empty one...This dry empty landscape was of God's choosing...Each and everyday as His people traveled to Canaan, they could literally see they needed God and His help to live and be able to travel in the environment He chose...In those great fertile places of plenty, we tend to forget about God and what we need from Him and that we do need Him...