LEARNING DAILY

 

Genesis 2:15-17, Then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 

Do you watch the television show about people’s funny home videos? One of the segments is about parents putting cookies or chocolate items in front of their small children, telling them not to eat them. The parent(s) then say they are leaving the room and the children are not to eat the items when they are gone. The clip then shows the struggle the children go through – to eat or not to eat that becomes the question! For some children the items are gone in seconds; for others the struggle is plainly evident.

 

We laugh but did not God do the same thing when He put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden., telling Adam not to eat from it? Just like the children we face the choice of doing what God requires of us each day or doing what we want to do. We choose each day to follow God or to follow evil. I have found some days are easy to choose to follow God. But, other days … you know what I mean right?!

 

Eve did not hear God tell Adam about this tree. We do not know if Adam had told her. When she found the tree, the devil was right there to tempt her and twist the words of God. Let me be perfectly clear here (my politician voice). God does not tempt anyone with evil. He has clearly given us a free choice. Your choice every day (probably many times during the day) is choose to follow God or to follow evil. Evil exists in this world because of sin and as long as this earth exists the way it is, there will be a sin problem.

 

The command given to Adam was a moral test. Just like parents who place the treats before their children, God placed the tree before Adam as a deliberate choice between belief/obedience and disbelief/disobedience. “From the very beginning the human race has been bound to Gog through belief and obedience. That belief and obedience is to God’s Word and absolute truth” (LSSB). Didn’t God warn Adam that he would die if he was disobedient to the command regarding the truth? The choice is pretty clear that as long as Adam believed God’s Word, he would continue to be blessed by God and live in the garden. But it was clear if he was disobedient, he would reap moral disaster and death.

 

It is clear that our obedience is at the center of God’s desire for you and me! The note in the DJSB is interesting, “In Eden, God does not ask the first man and woman for love or faithfulness, only for obedience to one fundamental command, ‘If you want to walk with Me, do as I say.’” He demands and expects no more, no less from you and me!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.