Daily Devotionals

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Tuesday

"In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" Genesis 2:9b

We have come a long way with technology. The Amazon Alexa can pull up recipes, turn on and off lights, give us updated events happening in the news, and so much more. One thing that Alexa cannot do is have a relationship with us. Why? At its core, Alexa is artificial intelligence. Alexa is programmed to do things we ask and respond accordingly. Alexa, of course, does not have a personality or the ability to relate to humans on a personal level. It is impossible to have an authentic relationship with anything that simply obeys commands to do what we ask. That is why, when the first human beings were created, God gave them the ability to choose whether or not to obey.  

Genesis 2 describes the beautiful garden called Eden that God created for Adam and Eve, the first people to live in. As we read about this garden, we find out an interesting piece of information: God placed two trees “in the middle of the garden”: “the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (verse 9). Further in this chapter, we find out that God had one rule for the first two humans: not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if they did eat the fruit, they would die (verse 17). Of course, we know that the temptation was too strong, and ultimately both Adam and Eve did eat the fruit from that tree, and sin entered the world and changed things forever. 

This story in Genesis 2 raises an important question: why did God even put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden? After all, if He had never placed the tree there, they would never have had the opportunity to eat it. While we do not know all of the answers and complexities to this question, I do know that the ability to choose is a gift because it invites us into a relationship with Him. If we had no choice, we would not have the opportunity to have a thriving relationship with God based on a mutual decision to embrace a relationship with each other. Without the choice, we would be more like artificial intelligence, obeying God with obedient actions without hearts that have chosen obedience. God has chosen to have a relationship with us. We, in turn, get to choose to have a relationship with Him. Each day we get to decide to love, obey, serve, and honor God and have a relationship with Him. Will you choose Him today?

Moving toward action

Take some time to pray. Thank God for free will, the ability to choose our actions. Even though free will sometimes makes us choose the wrong thing, it allows us to choose Christ. Because of free will, we can have an authentic, thriving relationship with Him.

Going Deeper

Genesis 2:16-25 (NLT)

"But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die."

18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 "At last!" the man exclaimed.

"This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called 'woman,'
because she was taken from 'man.'"

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame."