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15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 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." 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 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.' " 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 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. 7 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 NRSV)
Hi Friend. It was a positive command. It's in verse 16, read it again. God said, "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 you eat of you shall die." Notice how our enemy changes everything around! In verse 1 of chapter 3, he says, "Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman, to her credit says, "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." That's how arguments start! One person remembers one thing, the other another, and the devil still another (and he's quite the liar!) and bam! You're fighting; you go to be mad, next thing you know you're thinking and or doing things you shouldn't be!
Let's rewind. The man and the woman, later known as Adam and Eve, had been to see the tree. Just like their kids would do later and as yours and mine have since; they were precisely where they knew they shouldn't be. The tree was in the middle of the garden no less, and regardless of what others may have said, we don't know what kind of fruit that it was, we've come to associate the apple with the tree. For some it is the most tempting of fruits. It could have been a tomato and the story doesn't quite sell as well. A famous comedian says that if the apple were covered in caramel that would have been a different story and he might have been tempted to eat it himself. But, as the story is told, the woman saw that the fruit was good for food, and "a delight to the eyes," and could make one wise, she bit it. And she handed it to the man who also bit it. The Bible says their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. Up to this point, their nakedness was not a big problem. They weren't "wise." They were innocent and trusting, like children. No big deal. But now with the fruit, they were wise and they could judge between good and evil and the very first judgment they make is that God's good creation of humans, naked and all, was good, was now judged as evil. I will never forget the eyes of Dean Virgil Matthew, my religion professor at Lon Morris College, who opened my eyes to scripture, as he told the story. First, excitement flashed in them, then extreme sadness, that God's own handmade creatures, had judged God's wonderful work as bad.
My home church in Houston, El Buen Pastor Methodist Church has a huge fig tree in the back yard. It produced good figs and huge fig leaves and it taught me that to make underwear from fig leaves is much like making underwear from sandpaper. My dad having been a painter in those years had plenty of sandpaper for me to use and as I felt the other side of the fig leaf I realized how sad and comical this drama was. No one in their right mind would make sandpaper underwear.
Humans, for all their wisdom, chose disobedience over obedience and as a result ended up wearing itchy, scratchy BVDs. Okay, Fruit of the Loom, as it were. One or both of the humans could have easily said, "We're in a world of trouble..." And indeed they were. They chose to fall from God's grace and as Paul Harvey would have said, "Now for the rest of the story... they were forced out of the paradise garden by God."
PRAYER: Lord, even now I ask forgiveness for my part in choosing disobedience in my own life over obedience. I know how sin was introduced by this drama and I ask that Jesus move quickly again in me to remove my sin. I pray in His name, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share the good news with someone, that we don't have to stay in disobedience!
Receive my blessings of love and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
THANK YOU ALL who emailed Nellie and myself your congratulations for our 42nd Anniversary! We had a marvelous day!
