The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”   Genesis 2:15-17 HCSB

In Genesis we see that God had provided this beautiful garden for Adam and Eve. They were free to eat from any tree in that garden, but one. They were told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on several diets that have forbidden certain foods and what’s the one thing I crave as soon as I start that diet? Yep, it’s that forbidden food. Adam and Eve were given access to every tree in the garden, but God commanded them not to eat from just one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Of course as soon as the serpent slithers in, this is the one he tells them it’s okay to eat from. He tells them that God didn’t really mean they would die. He tells them not to worry about God’s commands. He convinces them that it looks good, smells good and will taste good. And before you know it they have taken that first bite.

With that first bite, they gained the knowledge of good and evil. They were ashamed of their nakedness and tried to cover up. Adam tried to hide from God, he was ashamed of what they had done. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. They would all pay a heavy price for their sin.

Have you ever wished that you had not received bad news. Have you ever wished that you hadn’t found out that someone who claimed to care about you had betrayed you. Have you ever wished that you could just carry on in blissful ignorance about some of the evil things that have happened in your life.

This is what Adam and Eve were doing. Good and evil were God’s job. It wasn’t for them to concern their pretty little heads with, but then they ate from the tree and they knew.

I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I wished I didn’t know what I know. Think about it, this tree was not called the knowledge of good. That would have been okay. Then they would only have known the good. As it was, they only knew the good. They knew that God had created them and had provided all they needed and all they had to do was tend to it and watch over it. They just had to live in God’s warm embrace in this paradise He had prepared for them.

God didn’t withhold this tree because He wanted them to be lacking. God commanded them not to eat from this tree because He knew that it would bring them shame and sorrow. They did not die a physical death, but they died a spiritual death. This is what sin does to us.

My pastor often tells us that when God says, “Thou shall not…” that it’s a loving father’s way of saying, “Don’t hurt yourself.” God knew that eating from this tree would bring them great sorrow. God also had to add additional punishments which continue to be inflicted on us today.

I wonder if they had only known how bad it would get if they would have resisted? I mean God told them they would surely die, so he painted a pretty bleak picture, right? That doesn’t seem to stop us from sinning does it? God’s word tells us that our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) but we do it anyway. We are told in Numbers 32:23 that our sin will catch up to us, but we do it anyway.

I can’t help but wonder if Adam and Eve had only known, would they have eaten that fruit? We know, so what are you doing with the knowledge of how sin destroys us? The Bible tells us all about the effects of sin and tells of many who suffered dire consequences because of their sinful behavior. But, that doesn’t stop us from sinning. We have to learn the hard way.

If you are tired of dealing with your sin and want to be saved from it, you can turn to God today. You can repent. We can’t undo what Adam and Eve did. We can’t go back to the blissful ignorance of not knowing anything about evil. We see it every day. But, we can trust in Him to get us through it and lead us safely to eternity in heaven above.

Have a great day!