Perhaps we can understand how God loves us and wants what is best for us when we think about how we (imperfectly but passionately) love our own children. We wouldn’t want them to be playing with lead or eating cute and charming little antibiotic pills for snacks or orange dishwashing liquid as juice because we know it is harmful to them. So while we allow them many many other things, we will forbid them from certain things. If they do not have the proper perspective about us nor have the proper reverence for what we say, they will disregard our guidelines and just think of us as killjoy, in Tagalog slang, “K.J.”

We need to also have the proper perspective of God so that we will not lose out on his best will for us. Sometimes God gets a bad reputation for being restrictive. That is what the enemy would like us to think as he tries to make us doubt God’s character, deny and then disobey his Word.  In Genesis 2, God told Adam that he could have ALL but one fruit.We don’t even know if the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is delicious as it is mentioned only after “delicious fruit” was segregated in the prior sentence.

What they could eat from:  all sorts of beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. (Gen 2:9a)

What they could not eat from :  one tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9b; 2:16).

But the enemy was as he still is standing by to cast DOUBT on God:

Attempt 1: Gen 3:1 Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

Eve goes on to answer  ² “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. ³ “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

God did not say “don’t touch the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” When Eve touched the fruit and didn’t die, she probably thought God was a liar and not to be trusted.  So she was vulnerable to believe the other lies from the enemy. That’s why it is important for us to know what God’s Word says so we will not be misled. God had spoken to Adam about this. The possible loopholes for this wrong information are (1) Adam, the one who knows what God said, did not listen carefully; (2) Adam did not relay it correctly; (3) Eve did not listen carefully; (4) she was distracted by the pleasing-to-the-eye fruit. What we can learn from this is that we should know God’s Word ourselves since in our generation, it is already available in one book and even online at http://www.biblegateway.com.

Attempt 2: Enemy DENIES God’s Word: Gen 3 ⁴ “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ⁵ “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

Until Eve DISOBEYED God’s Word: Gen 3 ⁶ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 

The right perspective of God’s character is important. If Eve had a firm understanding that God is good and after her best interest, she would not be deceived by the enemy’s denying God’s Word.  In the midst of all sorts of beautiful trees with delicious fruit, only the one forbidden fruit became the focus. Disobedience caused them to miss out on God’s best plan for them. Instead, they got the consequences of death and separation from God as well as the following:

Genesis 3: ¹⁶ Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth.  And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. ¹⁸ It will grow thorns and thistles for you,  though you will eat of its grains. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat  until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

May you and I keep the right perspective of God as the all-knowing, all-powerful Father whose love for us is perfect and holy and who will use everything for good.

SONG: HE’S CONCERNED