Image from answersingenesis.org
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely 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 die.’ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LordGod had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7)
As a child my idea of the garden of Eden was an image of a land I have yet to visit; Hawaii. I had seen pictures and imagined that paradise must look like that. But as I have grown, the concept of paradise has been right in front of me; the relationship we can have with God is paradise! In this garden, God supplied all their needs, and in the evenings God walked and talked with them. What better place could they possibly want? Well, apparently, like children and most of us, they want more, and they want better. And the tempter certainly supplies those to us if we aren't careful. We could see more, or something better, and we could want that by being blinded by what we truly have. The key is to have that walking, talking, trusting, loving relationship with God; and our eyes will see beyond what is there to what is truly with us.
The journey of Lent is about that. We sacrifice time or food or something we desire a lot of, to be closer to God. We cannot let the tempter prey on our wants and desires like happened to the man and the woman; they wanted the knowledge of good and evil, and disobeyed God just to get it. And the first decision they made with this knowledge? That God's good creation is bad; that having no clothes was not kosher. And what did this new wisdom allow them to do? They learned to sew, and they sewed sandpaper underwear to wear. Smart, right?
May it be that our desire will be to know God better, for God truly knows the difference between good and evil, and if we listen closely God will guide us.
PRAYER: Loving Father, guide me to obedience and faithfulness. May Your rich blessings of discernment, joy, peace and comfort be with this dear reader. May this day be one filled with Your wonder and may they know how blessed they truly are. We pray in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
