Gen 2-3, Falling in this Eden

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

-Genesis 2:8-9


And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.” -Genesis 2:16-17


God created Eden. Within Eden he created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He pointed Adam to the tree and said, “Don’t eat of it” knowing both Adam and Eve would disobey him.


It’s not as though God was at all surprised by what they did. In fact when you get right down to it, God even allowed Satan into the Garden knowing he would tempt them.


My point is this, God already knows when, where, why, and how we are going to sin. In fact, he knows all our sins before we’re even born. That’s why we have one  Cross two thousand years ago. Not ‘in case’ we sin but because to God, we already have.


And I don’t know about you but that raises a few questions in my mind. Going back to Adam and Eve- Why did God put the tree there in the first place? Why did he even bother to warn Adam? Why didn’t he just destroy the serpent the second it came in? Most importantly, is God just setting us up to fail?


And if you know me then you know I like to simplify things. So after reading and prayer and a few notes I’m beginning to understand it in this way- God knows how many times I’m going to fall before I learn to walk. Without letting me fall though, I might never learn.


Does that mean its Gods fault when I fall? No. But he does sometimes let me fall. And once I do, he’s right there to help me back up so I can try again. Even if that means falling a few more times.


And that really does help me to understand my life better. Because I know God loves me. I know God is always with me. Yet sometime’s I end up flat on my face and I want to yell out, “Where were you on that one!”


But that’s when he puts out his hand to help me up and says, “I’m right here.” And that’s just one of those things that make me smile and say, “Beautiful. The way you work is simply beautiful.”


I also like to imagine that this world I live in is still a sort of Eden. There’s a lot of trees that God has put all around me and told me not to eat from.


But using this simple analogy in my childlike brain, I’m allowed to recognize when the serpent is tempting me with evil by using the fruit from one of these trees that God has created.


Then I can call to God for protection. Not necessarily from the fruit but from the evil Satan's using it for. Namely, getting me to do what God told me not to.


Here’s a video sermon (Yea Video’s!) of John Piper using Eden to explain how God allows Satan to exist so that the glory of Jesus Christ can be revealed to us. 


Piper’s cool because he’s kinda like the mad scientist of preachers. I love to listen but I especially love when I can watch him because I think he really is on the edge of earthly insanity and a full on spiritual combustion.


Near the end of the video he’ll describe 8 things we should always do concerning evil followed by 4 things we should never do concerning evil. It’s worth watching till the end to find out. I think the whole lesson is about 40 minutes.


Blessings…

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