Apr 9 - Sin in the Garden

Genesis 3:1-7

Context: In the Garden of Eden, soon after man and woman were created.

Text:
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

God knew that his creation would fall, and he knew when and how. He knew we would disappoint him over and over. He knew we would try to hide from him and lie about our sins. Yet he still put the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden.

Sin is never good for us in the long run, but God works out all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). He never wants us to sin, but we would have no idea of the extent of his love without experiencing his forgiveness. Each of us has taken a bite of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Without the knowledge of evil, would we really know what is good?