Knowledge Choices

Knowledge 

Choices

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and

lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Some of us love choices and others hate them.

Some of us like the power of making decisions.

Then there are those who get stressed out.

 

We are introduced to the Tree of Knowledge

 for the first time in Genesis 2:9.

“And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground —

 trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the

garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” NIV

In the middle of the garden easily accessible

 were the only two trees named.

At the center of attention prominently displayed:

The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge

That is right the tree was not called the

Tree of Death but the Tree of Knowledge.

Because there is not temptation

to eat from a Tree of Death.

“The Lord God commanded the man,

"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;

 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good

 and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:16-17 NIV

The Tree of Knowledge very accurately

could have been called the Tree of Death.

God allowed man free reign of everything in the garden.

There was only one law and one consequence in the garden.

“You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

for when you eat of it you will surely die."

 If Adam and Eve had refused to eat from the

Tree of Knowledge they would be alive today.

God had created man to live forever; all the natural

things to sustain the body were in the garden.

If Adam and Eve had not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge

 they would have needed to be in constant dependence upon God.

God has the knowledge of good and evil, they did not.

They would have needed to look to God to

tell them what was good and what was not.

The temptation for Adam and Eve was

to make decisions apart from God.

To make their own choices.

So how has this worked?

In the garden we had one law,

how many laws do we have now?

We still have all the resources God created yet we

cannot seem to extend life at best a hundred years.

I personally am overwhelmed at the

knowledge we have on health foods…

Back in the garden before man took on the

burden of being the know it all, God knew it all.   

Getting back to a life of depending on God,

looking to Him to be Lord of our lives…

Allowing God to make the decisions is not easy.

We don’t know how to take care of the resources

God has created and now the ground is cursed.

We are working harder not smarter.

Just look at food how confusing

it is, everybody has an opinion.

So what is the point?

Wouldn’t it have been much easier to leave

the knowledge of good and evil to God.

Wouldn’t it be better to let God be Lord of our lives.

  

Wouldn’t it be better to sit with God

in the cool of the day and listen to His

words of instruction for the next day.

We will all die but the hope of eternal life

and a better life now is possible.

Let’s get back to…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body

and nourishment to your bones.

Proverbs 3

Scripture Reading NIV  

Proverbs 3:1-8

3 My son, do not forget my teaching,

but keep my commands in your heart,

2 for they will prolong your life many years

and bring you prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Then you will win favor and a good name

in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and shun evil.

8 This will bring health to your body

and nourishment to your bones.

Genesis 3:17-19

 "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat of it

all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return."