They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
Read: Genesis 3
God created a beautiful, perfect environment for mankind to live, offered an uninhibited relationship with Himself, gave the man and his wife practical instructions on what to avoid, and yet something went terribly wrong. What should have been a deep, intimate relationship with their Creator turned into estrangement, separation, and brokenness. Instead of enjoying the presence of God in the garden, these two are now hiding from His presence. So what went wrong? I believe that there are a few things that we need to understand about this event.
- God’s instructions are always for our benefit
God’s prohibition of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was for the protection of Adam and Eve. In fact, all of God’s instructions are for our benefit. Every other tree in the garden, including the Tree of Life, was theirs to enjoy. But this prohibited tree would bring with it information that they were not designed to bear. By avoiding this tree, Adam and Eve could live in the peace, comfort, and joy that their ignorance provided. But cross over the line of prohibition given by God and they would introduce themselves to a world that they were not prepared to handle.
I remember growing up in the turbulent years of the Vietnam War. The country was divided over this conflict and there were many demonstrations, some even violent, designed to show the countries displeasure with the conflict. Add to that a myriad of social problems and the late 1960’s and early 1970’s were quite turbulent.
But all of this conflict did not affect the peace and joy that I was experiencing during this time. You see, I was in grade school and was not developmentally capable of understanding all of the political and social discord. Even if I had the capability, being a child, my job at that time in my life was to play. My days were spent riding my bike, hanging with friends, and playing as long as the daylight would allow. Living life as a child left the worrying to my parents and all of the other adults keeping a close eye on the issues of the day. But for me, they were irrelevant.
This is similar to what God was doing with Adam and Eve. By avoiding the one tree in which He had commanded them to avoid, they would remain in an innocent state of bliss, enjoying the life that God had given them while leaving the business of running the universe to God. I believe this is why Jesus states the following:
Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3
If they had left the tree alone, everything would have been fine.
- We have a spiritual enemy and his desire is to see us destroyed
Enter the serpent. If we look at the end of scripture, we see that the serpent in the Genesis account is none other than Satan, our spiritual adversary (Revelation 20:2). It is his desire to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). Because we are made for God’s pleasure, he hates us the same. So he works in two ways to derail what God had done with mankind in the garden.
First, he sought to convince the woman to question what God had said. Secondly, as God’s instructions were indeed established, he sought to convince the woman that what God had said was not the truth. Our spiritual enemy works in the same way today.
The Word of God will always come under attack when someone is being influenced by the devil. Questioning the validity of scripture, the gospel, and even the Genesis account will be the norm for those who are actually denying God in their hearts. If the truth of God’s Word can be diminished, then unbelievers can construct their own doctrine and adhere to “truths” that they manufacture themselves. This is usually done in an effort to live life on their own terms instead of God’s. The enemy is all too willing to lead someone down this road and to even confirm the validity of what they are doing.
But even if the truth of God’s Word is heard, the enemy goes to work in attempting to convince the “would be” believer that what they are hearing is not true and that it is something in which they should not place their trust. Consider Jesus’ words from the Parable of the Sower:
Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.
Luke 8:11-12
But the enemy’s influence is not restricted to veiling the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), he also works to convince believers that the promises of God are not applicable to their lives. Consider these two remarkable truths:
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
Mark 11:24
Despite these two truths, how many believers do not believe that those things apply to their lives? And how many Christians live far below the abundant life that Jesus came to bring? (John 10:10) The enemy works to convince us that either God did not say something or that even if He did, we should believe those very words. This is the strategy of the enemy and it is working on many who choose not to believe.
- When we abandon God’s instructions, we bring upon ourselves grief, sorrow, and
despair
When the first man and his wife disobeyed God, the very thing that God had said would happen, did. And when they had disobeyed, they ran and hid from God. Grief, sorrow, and despair entered the human experience and it is still present today. But there is hope! Just as man’s one act of disobedience in the garden brought sin into the world, Jesus’ one act of obedience on the cross brings justification of life to everyone who will simply place his/her faith in Jesus (Romans 5:18, Romans 10:9-10, 13).
We can overcome the enemy but this spiritual victory is only found when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. As we yield ourselves to Him and to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we find spiritual strength, victory, and power to live our lives according to the instructions that God has given to us. And as we walk this road of faith, we find ourselves growing closer to the One who created us and desires to have a relationship with us. Jesus paid it all and all to Him we owe! Let’s find the truth of that phrase in our daily existence as we live powerful, effective, and abundant lives for Jesus!
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