I’ve been pondering again, the events that took place in the Garden of Eden and God’s plan and intention, revealed in verses 26 to 28 of the first chapter of Genesis; writes Pastor Paul Kauri of Arepua Church.

1.         God made us in His Image, (Our Value)

2.         God making us in His Likeness (His Process)

3.         God commissioning us to Rule (His delegated Authority upon us)

4.         God commanding us to Increase and Fill the earth! (His Blessing and Advancement)

In the second chapter of Genesis, we know that God created a garden called Eden and placed two trees in the middle of Eden; the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. He then commanded Adam not to eat or even touch the Tree of Knowledge, for death would result.

It would have been impossible for Adam to fathom what it meant to "die" because he was created in an environment where there was no death. There was no understanding for Adam of what 'dying' was, because it didn't exist before chapter 3, and I wonder if this lack of knowledge is why he sat in silence as the serpent spoke to his wife, hoping for answers.

For many years I've wondered why God would put that tree in the garden and then tell Adam "Don't eat it or touch it". Have you ever tried putting an open packet of chocolate biscuits on the kitchen table and telling the children "Don't eat it" and then leaving the room? And by the way, if death was the result of eating those biscuits, wouldn't you take them away?

So why did God leave the tree with the command "Don't touch"? (In my humble opinion, a chainsaw would have come in handy right about now, just saying).

And let's not forget the serpent and his temptation of the woman. It should be noted that the serpent had easy access to both Adam and Eve. No guardian angels, no electric fences to keep out dangerous animals. Didn't God know better than to let his guard down, or did he have something greater in mind for Adam and Eve?

Let's come back to this later, we know the result as the scriptures point out "... she took the fruit and ate. And she gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.”  Throughout this whole conversation, this temptation, this trial, whatever you want to call it, Adam was sitting there quietly watching, perhaps even wondering "What is death?”

I was talking to a friend earlier this week whose family is going through some difficulties, with major personality challenges at work and considering his future in his job. They also have serious health concerns for their first grandchild who is about to be born. Needless to say, these are very difficult times for my friend and his family. As he discussed these trials with his wife, he made this comment to me: "The devil is just having a go at us, trying to discourage and overwhelm us!"

It's a line I've heard many times from many believers over the years. Different words, different circumstances, different trials, but the same sound, spoken in desperation for God to come through.  This is the tone I'm referring to; far too much credit, far too much emphasis and far too much focus is given to the devil and his role in our trials to the exclusion of the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the Ever-Present and the All-Loving!

If He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omni-loving, which He is, then surely He knows what's going on, He knows how to respond and He knows what's best to 'make us like Him'* and everything He does to us and for us is out of His love, to make us mature.

So back to my question in the light of my friends' story, "Why leave the tree and why was the snake allowed in?

Let's start with the second question - the serpent. It's quite plausible to think that in the Garden, God turned aside for a moment and let the serpent think he could sneak into the Garden without the knowledge of the All-Knowing One. What an oxymoron!

But this access was never about the serpent's sneaky chance, it was about the opportunity God gave Adam to exercise the authority He had given him.

The authority to rule over all creatures in the air, in the sea and all that move on the earth (including the sneaky serpent) was in Adam's hands. This temptation, trial or test was the very opportunity God was giving Adam to use this authority. But perhaps Adam's question of death, got the better of him.

Maybe we should look at our trials, temptations, tests and challenges not as the adversary coming against us, but as our Father giving us an opportunity to exercise His delegated authority given to us by Jesus and in His name!

And maybe we should stop giving the devil credit for what God is doing for us in these opportunities. I think so.

But why keep the tree in the garden?

For God to make us like Him meant, among other things, that we were also given sovereignty (the freedom to make our own choices). While the issue of the serpent was for Adam's sake, the issue of the tree was to reveal the gift of sovereignty given by God to Adam, to reveal God's love, which God would not take back, neither His love nor the gift.

It was up to Adam to obey God's command not to touch the tree as a loving response to his Father. This is the response of love that God wanted from Adam, and the same response of love that God wants from all of us. Unfortunately for us, Adam had a question that he did not work out with the Father and the result is written in history.

If God had stepped in and taken that choice away from Adam, to save him from abdicating his authority, then He would not be God and we would not be human, we would be robots, and that kind of god is not the merciful, gracious, loving and liberating God revealed in the Scriptures.

Someone once said, "Love is the highest ethic, and there can be no love if the freedom to respond in love of one's own choosing is taken away.”

There's a word for when love is forced or taken from a person - it's called rape.

Perhaps the reason Jesus is standing at the door knocking and waiting for the appropriate response from us, rather than using his 15 foot angels to break it down, is because of His loving nature. God is love (1 John 4:7). God's love is given (John 3:16) and He would not violate us by forcing His will on us, nor would He violate the gift of sovereignty He has given us, but He is looking for the appropriate response from us, toward Him. 

I leave you with this closing thought: In Eden, the LORD, in His unfathomable wisdom, made room for the serpent to exercise his choice to manipulate Adam and Eve as they in turn exercised their choices. In the same way, He made room for him again in Gethsemane when God turned away. Satan was given access to Jesus and the loving response of Jesus was, "Father, not my will be done, but Thy will be done", resulting in the Lord's greatest victory along with the highest expression of love, on that cross.

Surely the response of appreciation would be,

Thank You, LORD.