Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Lord, please give us Your wisdom and not our own to discern Your word. I ask in Jesus name, amen
There are people much smarter than I am that discuss the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I think as a parent, I tend to expect myself to repeat over and over what kids shouldn't do and why. I feel the need to explain it to death. Don't get me wrong, in my particular family that does increase the likelihood that the rule or request will actually be heeded. I think we are particularly rebellious in nature needed to know why for everything. Makes for rebellious children but good scientists. God designed us, it's just what we deal with as a part of who we are. But, God said it once. He just laid it out - if you do this, you will die. My kids and I have always had difficulty with blind obedience. (One or two rounds of flawed authority will do that to a person) And I seemed to pick up the idea somewhere that God requires blind obedience of us, and He does - kind of. God did not require blind obedience here. He flat out shared the consequence when he laid down the rule. He didn't fancy it up like I might, explain it to death, wait for the face to register understanding etc. But, he did explain. If you eat of this tree you will die. As a parent I understand the underlying love in that statement. "I don't want you to die, I want you to live because I love you. Do you understand? Now, look at me and promise not to touch the tree." As a kid, I would have just thought my dad was trying to hide something fun from me. I firmly believe we never fully grow up. We are that way with God. If He says no, he is just trying to steal our fun!
So, I don't think God always requires blind obedience, He usually gives us things along the way that make that obedience reasonable at least in our spirit, even if it ticks off our flesh.
My second point: God made all the animals, but He brought them to Adam to name. I think that is such a beautiful thing, an act of love. By all rights, God would name what He had created. Don't we all like to label our own handiwork? God brought them to Adam to name them. Whatever he called them is what they were. So far in Genesis I have already seen so much of God giving. Before sin has entered, there is so much giving, so much hands on relationship between Adam and God. God sharing his creation with His created. This is amazing to me.
All this giving, one rule, and even that rule was borne of love for man.
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