Yesterday I finished by saying sufficiency was placed on the back shelf. My allusion is to a pantry or larder, perhaps even better, a root cellar.

Isaiah 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

But why the back shelf, why not make that provision available then, right after the fall? Perhaps the answer to that lay with the nature of man himself. We will only accept something when we recognize we need it. Right after the fall, when sin entered in, death began its reign.

Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Death came to all, even to those who did not sin. Death became the enemy of all mankind and it was inflicted as much by man as it was by nature. Dominion was no longer a gift from God but rather a byproduct of murder and war. Sin and death dominated man’s mind, reality and motives.

The answer to that could only present itself after man had come to understand that the answer to sin and death was beyond his ability. They said if you cannot escape death, create it for others. In this God had to allow sin and death to become the enemy so that He could come in with a solution and the victory. Man had to see the need for a savior.

What would this savior look like? How would they recognize Him when He came for them? This is where historical context plays its biggest role.

Leadership by example. You won’t recognize one without one setting the example.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Based on this closing verse of Genesis 1, my answer to what is missing, is nothing. God saw it was very good. Since the seventh day He rested from His labors, I have to say that God was done and had left nothing undone, so I believe nothing is missing.

If you look back at my hints you might see that the abundance wasn’t enough. The dominion wasn’t enough. The blessings weren’t enough? So what happened?

Satan planted a seed of doubt with a lie and it took root and birthed sin.

Everything that I wrote about in The Hint was a result of that one event.

Genesis 3:14-17 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Because the abundance God provided wasn’t enough dissatisfaction was born and sufficiency was placed on the back shelf.