God could have stopped Eve from sinning. Do you think God did not know when satan was entering the garden of Eden?. Was God unaware of satan tempting His precious child Eve?. The closing of Genesis 3 speaks about God keeping Cheru-bims to watch over the garden with a flaming sword. Why did not God set that watch in the beginning, so that satan would not have entered the garden or why had not God kept the flaming sword near the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so that Adam and Eve would never dare to go near it? God did not do it. God did not keep His angels to have a watch over Adam and Eve as to what they are doing. Why did not God keep them from sinning?
The answer is very simple, if we know the will of God. God was testing them to know whether they trust Him or turn away His word and believe some other lies. God gave them absolute freedom. They could decide what they wanted to do. God did not interfere with their personal freedom. God is a good God. .He has given us a free will. This is one thing that differentiates man from other created beings. All other creations have to follow the rule exactly as God scheduled for them. Sun has to rise in the morning… Seasons have to come at the right time…No animal can change their life style after a few years…the life style of sheep 2000 years ago was the same as today. No sheep has changed it’s life style. All animals, birds, and whatever in the oceans can’t change their attitude, nature or life pattern. They are programed by God and they have to obey it. But man has freedom. Because he was created in God’s image!. God gave him a free will. Eve had a will to trust in God or not to trust in God.
God said to Adam and Eve that they should not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and they would die, if they eat of it. (Gen 2:17). There were hundreds of trees there and they were allowed to eat from any of them except this particular tree. This was the testing point. God can have no confidence in us unless we are tested. Holiness is tested in secret. When temptation comes to us, all circumstances to sin are favourable, nobody will be around us, we will be alone, God gives full freedom and He watches over us whether we honour His word or not. The faith which is not tested cannot be trusted. Sin is a choice!. We can either yield to the desires of our flesh or trusting God and call upon Him and depend on His grace to overcome the temptations.
In Genesis 3 we see, the tree of knowledge of good and evil looks very attractive to Eve (3:6). God made it very attractive to test whether they love more the creator or the created. If Eve had trusted God, she could have told satan that she would not disobey God her creator, who caused her to be born in this world. She could have shut the mouth of satan by saying, whatever God does they are all for my good. But she did not!. When she was tempted, she used her own reasoning. The Bible says, she thought the tree to be desired to make one wise. Human reasoning depends on feelings. What we feel may not be the reality. Look at the sun, we have a feeling that it moves but the reality is the other way round. The speed of Earth’s rotation is 1674.4 km/h or 1040.4 miles per hour at the equator. Another way to measure it is 465.1 meters per second. Do we feel it when we stand at our feet? No. What we often feel is not reality..!
God’s wisdom is far greater than human wisdom. Let me picture it like this. Our wisdom may be a cup of water from an ocean. God’s wisdom is that of ocean itself! What is a cup of water to an ocean that is exactly what is human wisdom to God’s wisdom. We can’t understand many things in this universe. It doesn’t mean that they are not there. What we know today were not known a few years ago. What we say not today, we may say a few years later perhaps. I don’t understand many things that happening in my life, around me, in the universe and even in the Bible. I can’t scratch my head and think over it. Because I know that my wisdom is as big as a cup of water when compare to the mighty knowledge of God. What I do is to submit to His authority in humility and accept what He said is absolutely right!. That brings perfect rest to my heart.
Eve tried to trust her understanding more than the Word of God. The Bible warns us in Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. Eve lost Paradise. She lost the company of God. She was cast out from the garden of Eden along with her husband. Did satan tell her about all the consequences of her believing him?. No he did not say a word to her. He was deceiving her. This is how he deceives many even today. He traps people by tempting them, later he let them suffer in the whole eternity. Do you want to be deceived?. If you live by your reasons, I can guarantee you, you could be the target of devil and you will be deceived soon or later. Jesus said, “The thief (devil) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Adam could have repented and come back to God. God gave him a chance to repent. But instead of admitting the fault he blamed his wife (Genes 3:12). If Adam had admitted the fault of disobedience to God, God would have forgiven him. He went on blaming Eve and Eve went on blaming the devil. We have hope if we have a humble heart to accept the failures by ourselves. God loves that.. God loves humble people who cry out to Him for forgiveness.
Man is given a choice…There are two ways of life before him…Either to depend on his own knowledge of good and evil (Tree of knowledge) or completely trusting in the life of God (Tree of Life). Tree of knowledge can make a man decent with good qualities like many atheists and heathen who do not believe in God, living a good life externally. But their personal lives may be miserable. They are constantly defeated by bad moods, anger, aggression, depression, fear, lusts, love of money, approval of men, deep rooted secret sins and always struggle to maintain and show off an external life to the world. But a man who constantly depends on the life of Christ will never ever be found gloomy or depressed or in any situation we have seen earlier. His inner life and outer life corresponds to each other. He lives a life of blessing not to impress people but to honour God. He or She can be a blessing to many around them. They make a difference wherever they are. Because the Spirit of the living God is dwelling in them (1 Corinth 3:16/ 6:19).
Do not let the devil deceive you. The disobedience of Adam and Eve was the cause of the curse on this earth. God did not give up His plans. To deliver the mankind from that curse, Jesus came in to this world. This is the re-making plan of God. What satan messed up, God is re-building. If your life is messed up by satan, submit to God, He will re-make you to be a beautiful vessel to bless many. You will be a useful instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring many to His Kingdom. No matter how many years you have lost. God can fulfil His perfect plan in your life with what is left in you.
Renji George