Intimacy With Evil

The Book of Genesis Day 20 Ge 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Again, we see the specialness of the relation between God and man. If the creation of the earth was not beautiful enough, God plants a very special garden for man. In this garden, EVERY tree that was pleasant to look at, and every tree that was good for food was planted. Somehow the words “pleasant” and “good” don’t seem adequate to describe this garden. The Hebrew context of these words is closer to “desirable.” Every tree that man could desire to look at, or eat of, was in this garden. It was Paradise! Even the name “Eden” means “delight!” Two other “special” trees are mentioned at this time. The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Did you know, that as a baptized believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will one day munch on the fruit of the tree of life? Re 2:7 says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."' God also planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That’s a strange name for a tree, yet very descriptive! Try to follow me here. One bite of this fruit would give man both a taste of the knowledge of evil and a taste of the knowledge of good. Their lives, and the lives of every person hereafter would be tainted with this knowledge. Had they left it alone, all they would have known was ignorantly good. Adam and Eve, in the Garden, did not need to define good, because it just was! The old sayings, “You don’t know what you have until you lose it,“ and “ignorance is bliss,” seem fitting here. But now they knew the measuring stick, the Law of God, that was contained in that fruit and it became planted in every soul that would come after them. It is just as we read in Rom 7:7 “On the contrary, I would not have known (become intimate with) sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." Original sin. Intimacy with evil. We’ve all got it in our hearts that are now deceitfully wicked Jer 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” This sin is part of all of us from conception on and it will be active in our lives until we die or Jesus returns. This sin must be dealt with if we ever want complete fellowship with God restored. It is dealt with through baptism, repentance, and enduring faith in Jesus. All three are gifts from God, use them, and endure until the end and you will be munching on the tree of life in Paradise forever. The tree of knowledge of good and evil doesn’t make the cut in Paradise and man will never be threatened by the existence of evil again! Reflect: Have you ever bitten into something and been unpleasantly surprised? What did you do? Did spitting it out get rid of the taste completely? What helped you to eliminate the bad taste? How does God help us deal with the unpleasantness of our sin? At what price? Pray: Father God, I confess to You that I am a sinner. It’s in my genes and it breaks out in my life in thought, word, deed, and lack of deed. Forgive me of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son, and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Help me to live in Your gifts of baptismal grace, repentance, and enduring faith, so that I may be with You forever in paradise.