The first river flowing out of that garden was full-flowing, and it makes sense that God wants us to experience a full-flow of His Presence and power in our lives He doesn’t want us to be drained, depleted, or deficient. Paul prayed (Ephesians 3:19) that believers would be filled with all the fullness of God, and John spoke of Jesus (John 1:16, Amplified), saying, “…out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift upon gift.” God is not a God of scarcity and lack, but a God of abundance. The word Pishon means increase or full-flowing. I wondered if the rivers flowing out of God’s original garden (Eden) had any kind of message relative to the rivers that are supposed to be flowing out of God’s garden (our lives) today. I was reminded that 1 Corinthians 3:9 in the Amplified Bible says, “…you are God’s garden.” Further, Jesus said that if we believed in Him, that out of our innermost being would flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). I don’t want to emulate Johnny’s line of reasoning, but I became curious if there was any significance to those rivers, especially the names of them. I am reminded of the little boy in Sunday School whose teacher asked, “Johnny, what’s small, brown, furry, with a big bushy tail that likes to climb trees and eat nuts?” Johnny seemed to agonize over the question before finally answering, “Teacher, I just know that the answer has to be ‘Jesus,’ but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.” I really try to avoid over-spiritualizing things, as I know that people sometimes miss the simple, plain meaning of a text while trying to find some deep, hidden, mystical meaning. Genesis 2:10-14 tells us that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and that it parted and became four rivers: the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. Some time ago, though, I began wondering about the names of the rivers that flowed out of the Garden of Eden. Like many people, I have a tendency to skim over lists of names in the Bible.
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