This is part 2 of our series on Building the Covenant Familyly. To read part one, click here. Instead of obeying the owner and builder of the magnificent dwelling, our forebears rebelled and tried to take ownership. God comes into His garden and finds Adam and Eve hiding. He pronounces curses to Adam that his work will be tough and fruitless. Eve’s childbearing will be extremely painful, the serpent is to crawl on stomach forever and in vs 19: we read the punishment promised if they disobeyed: “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” and then they are driven out of God’s house, Genesis 3:23-24. 

Would it surprise you to know that the very first construction site in the Bible is found in Genesis chapter 1!? Verse one says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Every building project must have a good set of blueprints to guide the builders in the construction.   We see in Genesis 1:1 that God is constructing a house to dwell and rest, for the purpose of fellowship with His image bearers. The remainder of the chapter is God following His blueprint as He builds His permanent palace home alluded to in Isaiah 66:1-2.

Sometimes there are so many promises of God that we could lose count or have trouble following exactly which promises a biblical writer is referring to. Thankfully, the Apostle Paul cites exactly what he is referring to by quoting from Leviticus 26:12 and Isaiah 52:11. In these two passages, we see some extraordinary promises amid humanly impossible circumstances

I found this book a little disappointing compared to some of Johnson’s other novels. Maybe that’s just because I’m not a huge flower-lover, and most of the book revolved around gardening. But on a more positive note, this book is different than what you’d usually expect of a WWII novel. Instead of telling the story of a girl in a Nazi camp, or a tale of refuge children, The Blossoming Summer tells another side of the story, which I don't think I've ever seen in another WWII novel.