Let us note that when God set the man in the garden to work the ground, He was actually speaking a parable to the man, Adam was created out of the dust of the ground, the plants and vegetation also came out of the ground, hence both the man and the plants came through the same route, and so as Adam worked on the ground, keeping, tending, watching it and caring for it, so he should do to his own life as well, God provided all that the plants needed for freshness and growth, He provided all that Adam needed as well.
God’s expectation was that since everything He created was good, man was to take charge as Heaven’s ambassador to keep watch to maintain this goodness, not to Spoil the created settings of God. Therefore, Adam was to continue the garden’s work, tend and keep his own life as he will do to the plants and the goodness of God over the earth will be maintained. Adam and his wife should never go dry or wither but connect to their nutrients by obeying instructions provided by their Creator and master.
Hence, Adam’s life was supposed to be like the garden’s green trees planted by the rivers, watered by God to ever flourish, he was to keep on connecting with God as his source of water and light.
Note also that Every tree was suitable and pleasant as food except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which they were not to freely touch or eat, even though it grew as part of the trees in the garden but because God gave the instruction that the man should not touch it, it must be obeyed, can I ask you beloved friends, how many of God’s words or instructions are you consciously obeying? Disobedience to God’s word leads to disconnection from Him. Many people hear the word and indifferently walk away, some hear and forget, many just desire to obey but do not and they constantly deny the power and grace of God to live correctly, many also are not even interested in hearing the word, but it is my prayer that as you read these words today, you will be profited by them in Jesus name.
Man in the garden was to live by every word Spoken by God, he was to connect directly to God who is the owner of Eden and the owner of their souls and we see that God who gave the instructions supplied every ability needed for this simple work. Yes; simple work !!!, but as simple as it was, the devil made it appear so difficult.
Every effort or labor or experience of suffering and challenges we face on earth while trying to live for God are but simple works and small compared with the glory that God has reserved for us if we faithfully obey, we have grace supplied to overcome all Pressure in Christ Jesus. God who provided all that Adam needed, has provided all that we need through Jesus Christ and if God did not spare His Son from dying for us, How much more will He freely give us all things if we ask,
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).
God has not and will never withhold His blessings from us, we only need to depend on Him, it will reach us, if we seek first His kingdom, the Lord God can help us to live by His word for He is a loving father.
God told Adam and his wife how to conduct themselves within the garden and the bible recorded that “everything was good”, until the clever serpent deceived them, not because they didn’t have the power to resist or overcome the Serpent but because they decided to follow the devil by their own lusts.
How Eve suddenly SAW the evil tree as suitable for food, how they both forgot God’s instructions, how they suddenly decided to despise God, putting Him behind, cared less about Him, belittled the God who kept them, protected them, provided all their needs, denying His power to save, His grace to deliver, how their desires changed to wanting the tree of knowledge of good and evil baffles my own spirit.
They no longer wanted to depend on God for living, they wanted freedom away from God who created and ordered their lives from the beginning, whereas it was freedom into failures.
Many times, we may think in our hearts that serving God is burdensome, sometimes people may say “I want to be myself, I don’t want to die because of God’s service, I have flesh and blood running in me, I’m human, I can’t be righteous or may say – let me live my life the way I want, it’s not possible to be righteous and so on or may even say this or that is my temperament” or sometimes try to seek men’s applause and may subtly become proud, Selfish, explaining errors away with mere excuses, it is disregarding God, not giving considerations for what pleases Him, who made and kept us alive, it is exalting self above God. These are routes to disconnect.
Whenever any man or woman refuse to depend on God for living but on self or on another person or whenever a child of God loses faith, such will gradually wither like a leaf that’s disconnected from its waters
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took off its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate”. (Gen. 3:6 AMP).
Note that the serpent fed The woman with negative information as it were about God’s plan, this is always the first step to disconnecting from God. the devil worked on her inner eyes and mind, then she began to see differently, her eyes were no longer single and I guess it wasn’t a day’s attraction for her, she must have gradually developed that mind, she gradually considered another view to Godliness, she began to entertain alternatives to the almighty God, she began to think it’s of no use waiting for this God and then she discovered another plan to life, forgetting that the earth where she dwelt and its fullness was the Lord’s, do you sometimes think like Eve?
And the Bible says she began to desire the tree, she couldn’t remove her eyes from it, she started lusting after it, and eventually, she obeyed the devil, in the same way, affected her husband who began to lust and they both were lost, they were disconnected from God, Their leaves withered.
Repent now!, otherwise, the devil will take advantage of you whenever the devil gains access into our inner eyes, we will lose focus from God, we will see things differently outside of God and to Obey the devil becomes so cheap. Whenever our hearts become hard like stone or filled with doubts, worries, cares of life, pride, cunningness, covetousness or discouragements, subtleness, not single or settled with God, we won’t be able to connect with Him, disobedience to His word becomes easy and so we become vulnerable to the devil’s suggestions.
Many times, some could hold God with one hand and free the other hand or use it to hold something else, thinking in case God fails, this is harlotry with God, such cannot receive any help from God and will soon wither off in a short while. Would you like to search your heart today, if it is encumbered with any of these things?
As Eve became encumbered with cares and pride of life, Darkness covered her inner eyes, she ate the forbidden fruit and her whole body was suddenly filled with darkness and then influenced her husband to disobey God, And the Bible said, immediately they saw that they were naked, the devil was so glad because his mission was accomplished and he left them for a while, The question is ” were they not naked before? “Yes, they were ” but did not see it because their eyes and bodies were covered with the Glory of God and so their eyes were singularly on God, closed to other things, His glory covered their nakedness, they were not meant to see “nakedness”, they were to see only God, not even themselves or anything else. Brothers and Sisters, what/who do you see every day, what are you looking for, what do you look at ?, what is uppermost on your mind?, is it God or something else or someone else? If you are not focused on God, the devil will outsmart you.
And so We see that the devil did not force them but only presented another view about the tree, which sounded reasonable to them. In the same way, the devil cannot force any child of God because we have authority over him and God will not prevent the devil from coming to us or from speaking to us, for God must display His pleasure and it’s our simple responsibility to keep the garden, tend it, guard it with the Indwelling power of God in us and we can receive the grace only as we connect to Jesus Christ by receiving Him into our hearts.
“But to as many as receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name-( John 1:12 AMP)
We must no longer see ourselves but focus on Jesus otherwise self-confidence will set in on our minds, please note that the moment Adam and Eve began to see themselves, they decided to help each other with a cover of defense. We must stop seeing ourselves but see only Jesus.
Yet, in their fallen state, they could hear the voice of God, they heard the sound of God in the garden, of-course they were used to that sound anyway, they were familiar with God’s dealings, familiar with His ways and how He walked, in fact, they responded to God in their fallen state but negatively, It is amazing that even sinners can still hear and engage God with discussions in a fallen state yet, it is only good to respond positively in repentance when God’s voice is heard through His word, Unfortunately, Adam and his wife confessed their deeds but never repented.
Again, if you hear God in your fallen state, do not brag that you heard Him but respond positively, listen to know what God is exactly saying, it could be a query, a promise, an instruction, a curse, or a condemnation, or a blessing.? Understand it, acknowledge it and positively respond to it, don’t go away bragging or making noise about the fact that you heard His voice.
If it’s an issue of sin, you must acknowledge it, recognize the particular sin/sins, confess your sin, ask for forgiveness, ask for mercy and cleansing then stop sinning by His grace, as you invite Jesus into your heart, allow Him to operate in your life and you shall be blessed. If it’s an issue of not standing rightly as a child of God or not doing what God expects of you, please do not gloss over it, do not make excuses but acknowledge it, confess it and repent from the error, pray for the grace to stand, allow Him to operate in you, listen to God for more instructions, do not procrastinate, just do it and you shall be blessed.
The Bible says it is an unstable man that sees or hears the word of God as looking in a mirror and walks away doing nothing. To speak the word or hear God is not a sign of righteous living, the issue is having the right response, it is just right to practically respond positively.
“And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves. For if a person just listens and doesn’t obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; as soon as he walks away, he can’t see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does”. (James 1:22-25 LBT)
Adam and his wife received queries, condemnations, and curses from God, yet did not plead for mercy or acknowledge the sin, they had so much self-confidence, built self-defenses, their consciences were already sealed up with hot iron as it were and they explained their negative actions to God.
Rather than acknowledging the misdeeds with remorse, The next thing we read about Adam is that he named his wife Eve (as if nothing happened to them, they went about their usual businesses, waving all issues aside), with no deep thoughts about what went wrong or the implications of what God said, that the ground was cursed under Adam or that he will now work from dawn to dusk with sweat, toiling, stressing in pains before he eats until they return to the dust, when God drove them out of His presence, what we read in the first verse of the next chapter is that “Adam knew his wife…,” he did not beg God for forgiveness and restoration, “knowing God” was not his priority but knowing his wife was more important to him, having sex was what they resulted into despite all.
What an unfulfilled, shameful, and miserable lifestyle, The Lord threw them out of the garden, they were no longer fit to keep or live in it, they became disconnected and so their lives withered. Yet the devil had just begun with them, he went straight to create chaos among their children and one of them died in the process.
Whenever we disobey God, it is only good to repent, if not, we will be disconnected from the source, hence wither away and calamities will follow. These will not be our portion in Jesus name.
“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and grows up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.” ( Psalm 90:1-9) .
These verses explained Man’s woes when they fell. I pray that God’s mercy will find and deliver us from every sinful habit in Jesus Name. Amen!