Let's take a look at the Garden of Eden, for example. I think God did a great job there. A beautiful Garden with no weeds, no disease and no mosquitoes. If there were mosquitoes God had put a tiny muzzle on them. God made everything perfect for Adam, including giving him a woman named Eve who was absolutely the most beautiful woman in the world. How much better could it get? Then God slipped up and did something I never would have done. He put The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil into the Garden.
I would bet that if we were to poll the world population, I would have a larger vote for the tree to be left out, then God with the idea to put such a dastardly thing in the Garden. I bet even Adam and Eve would have voted with me. That tree was the only tree which Adam and Eve could not eat the fruit from. In Genesis 2: 16 – 17 God commands Adam not to eat the fruit or in that day he will die.
Until that tree was put into the garden, man could do anything he wanted to. He could sit around in his underwear and watch football all day if he wanted to. Eve was made right after the tree was planted in the garden, and I am willing to bet she would have been right there beside him on the couch and not nagging him to go mow the lawn. This is paradise. You search the scriptures, and you will not find one word about there being any honey-dos in the Garden of Eden.
Did God make a mistake? One day a while back I was sitting around, talking with the Lord, I brought this up. I was not so bold as to say, “God, what were you thinking? You really messed up here.” It was more like, “Um, God? I don’t understand what you were doing?” In my mind, I am thinking that there just can’t be any good reason for that tree except to get those two young lovebirds kicked out.
God knows I am a pretty ignorant man, and He is merciful enough not to strike me down with lightning when I question His actions. I think He likes my wife a lot. In answer to her prayers, God is patient with me and overlooks a lot. It’s a great deal for me to have Kathy, but not sure she made out as well. I guess God must have loved me a lot to give me such a gift as her.
So God was patient with me again and smiled upon me with such grace. “Beloved Son, tell me, how could Adam and Eve show their love for me?”
I quickly answered, “By telling you. Just saying ‘I love you” Or by doing something for you, like building an alter or place of worship to you.” I thought it was a pretty easy question to answer, but than I also thought I was a pretty smart guy.
“No.” He answered me. “They were permitted to do anything in the garden. If they wanted to ignore me, and not go for a walk with me in the evening, I would not have objected. They could cut down every tree there if they wanted to, I had given them every tree to do with as they wished except for that one tree. It cost them nothing to just say ‘I love you God.’ Love is expressed in sacrifice.“
I started to wonder just how smart I really was. “Ok but they could sacrifice to you by doing things for you. They kept the Garden. They tended it. They watched over the animals. They could have populated the earth and kept it all as a paradise to show how much they love and honor you for what you had done for them.
“It was all theirs to do with as they wished. There is nothing in this universe which I need. Give me a lamb? Why? I can make a lamb by speaking if I want one. Sacrificing their possessions to me was really meaningless.”
I couldn’t believe this. God demanded sacrifice in the old testament. I then remembered I Samuel 15:22, which talks about how God desires obedience over sacrifice. “But….you just told me that Love is expressed in sacrifice.” I thought I had Him there.
“If you to give your wife a penny, would she be impressed?”
“Probably not. That’s not a lot of money.”
“So it is no sacrifice to you. Adam and Even owned the whole world.”
Finally a flash of insight hit me. “They had no way to express their love to you except by obeying you.”
God just smiled at me. I am sure He was chuckling at how dense I am.
“Adam and Eve could sacrifice to you by putting your will over their own. As long as they loved you more than they loved their own selves they would stay away from eating the fruit of the tree. You just wanted their love, and that was the way they could give it to you.”
I leaned back as I thought about how good God was to give man such an easy way to express love to Him. I also thought about how gracious He was to allow us a second chance after we blew it in the garden. God showed us His love by sending His son to take the punishment for our sins on Himself. God didn’t have to do it, but He did anyway. We had rebelled against Him and still He gave us a second chance. He showed us what true love is and calls us to follow Him. Let's not blow it a second time.
Photo Credit: Discarded Forbidden Fruit by Leonard John Matthews
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