The Bible is an amazing book! In a few simple verses which can be told as a children's story it begins to reveal great, divine mysteries. For instance, it may seem a stretch to say that the breath of life from God in Gen. 2:7 became the human spirit in man. But in Hebrew, the original language, the word for spirit and for breath is the same. The word "nostrils" in the context here makes it clear that breath is what is meant but in the Bible breath or wind also signifies the spirit.
We might think that God's primary concern with us is related to what we do for or against Him. If this is the case then we are instruments in God's hands, tools He can use to accomplish His purpose. But in the garden of Eden God did not command man to do anything. He only warned him concerning what he should not take in.
This is the first clue in the Bible that God does not consider His people tools that He can use but as vessels that He wants to fill. The tree of life signified God as life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signified Satan who wanted to be like God and independent of God. So the real choice before Adam and Eve was not simply whether or not to obey God. It was whether they would take in God or Satan.
We all know they made the wrong choice. That is the next story. But the crucial thing for us today is still the same thing: what will we take in. What comes out of us is determined by what we take in. We will find it extremely difficult if we only try to improve our behaviour without changing what we take in. But if we take in God and begin to enjoy all His riches then a new living comes out spontaneously.
Another item that this little story begins to show us is that God is looking for a helper corresponding to Him, a bride. This theme is developed through the Bible until it reaches its consummation in the New Jerusalem.
When we put these two things together we have a marvelous picture. By opening to the Lord to take Him in we are gradually changed into His image. The more we match Him the more we are ready to be a part of His bride. The Lord gaining His bride is the story and climax of the whole Bible.