The Holy One calls to me this morning. His words ring true like a very loud bell in my ear, "You need Me".
That is the understatement of the Millennium and I wonder where He might be going with that simple statement of fact. There is no question that I need Him. He is my link to my Savior and my Heavenly Father. He is my counselor and friend. I know how much I need Him but why point that out today?
"You are struggling to understand life and to gain the knowledge of what is good. Confusion accompanies human analysis of the difference between good and evil".
I love how He cuts through the mental chaff that is non-essential and hits the core of my wrestles.
I know from Biblical history that in the original Garden of God, there was a tree and it offered the "knowledge of good and evil" as it's toxic fruit. I also know that the first man was warned that to eat of it would mean his death.
As the Holy One takes me into His counsel, He explains things so that I can understand what is written in the Word of God.
I agree with my Counselor that His Word is truth. I accept that it is truth even if I cannot always understand all that it contains. I study to gain more knowledge and He guides me in my pursuit of that wisdom.
To study is for me to meditate on His Word and let Him instruct me as we go. He takes me back to His Word and the account of man's time in the Garden of Eden before the fall.
It fascinates me that God's Word is a living word and seems to speak to each and every situation humans have to deal with every day regardless of the time or society in which they were born. It is ancient and yet relevant in today's world.
It holds lessons and applications at every level of our mental and spiritual maturity. It doesn't really matter where we are in life or our walk, the Holy One reveals the truth of His Word as we go and grow.
Today He is asking me to go back with Him to the Garden to see something new. Life with the Creator of all things is always interesting. There is no end to topics to discuss or things to learn. We will never arrive at the place of knowing everything about everything.
When it comes to knowing the Triune God, I am humbly aware that His thoughts and ways are so much higher than mine. Isaiah 55:9 NIV reminds me, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."
As I think about the garden and the tree, His Word and humanity, the questions begin to roll through my mind. The Lord invites me to question Him in this protected place of His counsel room.
I think about the forbidden tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
I think about the innocence that was lost the day that Adam and Eve ate from that tree.
I think about free will (God's design), and how, in order to be "free", we must be given a choice and I see that the forbidden tree was the option they chose. It occurs to me that, here I am, eons of time and distance from that day, still reeling from the curse of that decision. Just like "mother Eve" I am analytical in my thoughts but often confused by the difference between good and evil.
Humans are required to make moral and ethical decisions each and every day. Confusion abounds and opinions differ even in what seems to be the most simple of choices. Good bad, right and wrong all get decided by an internal code set by the individual or an external rule set by the society in which we live. We cannot, in most cases, even defer to the "other" opinion which is conveyed in the Word of God by the only One who truly knows what is good and what is evil.
When God said to the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of 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". Gen 2:16 NIV
The newly created man, called Adam, did not know "death". He did, however, know the One who gave the command and warning. We understand death as the cessation of physical life. Adam, who was created as an eternal being, in relationship with the Creator, and in innocence, had only the "threat" of dying to deal with.
God was warning about the death of their relationship and on the day of that rebellious decision, relational death occurred and man was driven out of the Garden, separated from God.
In essence, God said, "Here's your choice, Adam and Eve: tree of life, or tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One means relational security with Me forever and one means relational death and separation from Me forever. But you get to choose."
To give a human example from marriage. Once we are in the covenant called marriage, we find relational security. The rule that protects the relationship is exclusivity. A man or woman by covenant has the expectation of mutual loyalty to the one flesh union.
The rule of the covenant is that you must not engage in any other relationship that involves a sexual one flesh relationship with someone else. It is like saying to our spouse, "If you commit an act of adultery, breaking the one rule of covenant then we are done here". Death to the relationship and marriage is the end result. Physical death is not at issue (absent murderous rage), but relational death happens.
Simplified, that is what God said that day in the Garden. The temptation to violate Creation's covenant relationship, came like another man or woman to a marriage. The temptation was embraced, the rule broken and the covenant relationship died.
We all know and suffer the consequences of that death. Without the security of a relationship with and to the Creator, without His wisdom and discernment, the lines between good and evil got muddied and the world became a hell-hole in man's pursuit of self.
That is the understatement of the Millennium and I wonder where He might be going with that simple statement of fact. There is no question that I need Him. He is my link to my Savior and my Heavenly Father. He is my counselor and friend. I know how much I need Him but why point that out today?
"You are struggling to understand life and to gain the knowledge of what is good. Confusion accompanies human analysis of the difference between good and evil".
I love how He cuts through the mental chaff that is non-essential and hits the core of my wrestles.
I know from Biblical history that in the original Garden of God, there was a tree and it offered the "knowledge of good and evil" as it's toxic fruit. I also know that the first man was warned that to eat of it would mean his death.
As the Holy One takes me into His counsel, He explains things so that I can understand what is written in the Word of God.
I agree with my Counselor that His Word is truth. I accept that it is truth even if I cannot always understand all that it contains. I study to gain more knowledge and He guides me in my pursuit of that wisdom.
To study is for me to meditate on His Word and let Him instruct me as we go. He takes me back to His Word and the account of man's time in the Garden of Eden before the fall.
It fascinates me that God's Word is a living word and seems to speak to each and every situation humans have to deal with every day regardless of the time or society in which they were born. It is ancient and yet relevant in today's world.
It holds lessons and applications at every level of our mental and spiritual maturity. It doesn't really matter where we are in life or our walk, the Holy One reveals the truth of His Word as we go and grow.
Today He is asking me to go back with Him to the Garden to see something new. Life with the Creator of all things is always interesting. There is no end to topics to discuss or things to learn. We will never arrive at the place of knowing everything about everything.
When it comes to knowing the Triune God, I am humbly aware that His thoughts and ways are so much higher than mine. Isaiah 55:9 NIV reminds me, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."
As I think about the garden and the tree, His Word and humanity, the questions begin to roll through my mind. The Lord invites me to question Him in this protected place of His counsel room.
I think about the forbidden tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
I think about the innocence that was lost the day that Adam and Eve ate from that tree.
I think about free will (God's design), and how, in order to be "free", we must be given a choice and I see that the forbidden tree was the option they chose. It occurs to me that, here I am, eons of time and distance from that day, still reeling from the curse of that decision. Just like "mother Eve" I am analytical in my thoughts but often confused by the difference between good and evil.
Humans are required to make moral and ethical decisions each and every day. Confusion abounds and opinions differ even in what seems to be the most simple of choices. Good bad, right and wrong all get decided by an internal code set by the individual or an external rule set by the society in which we live. We cannot, in most cases, even defer to the "other" opinion which is conveyed in the Word of God by the only One who truly knows what is good and what is evil.
When God said to the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of 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". Gen 2:16 NIV
The newly created man, called Adam, did not know "death". He did, however, know the One who gave the command and warning. We understand death as the cessation of physical life. Adam, who was created as an eternal being, in relationship with the Creator, and in innocence, had only the "threat" of dying to deal with.
God was warning about the death of their relationship and on the day of that rebellious decision, relational death occurred and man was driven out of the Garden, separated from God.
In essence, God said, "Here's your choice, Adam and Eve: tree of life, or tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One means relational security with Me forever and one means relational death and separation from Me forever. But you get to choose."
To give a human example from marriage. Once we are in the covenant called marriage, we find relational security. The rule that protects the relationship is exclusivity. A man or woman by covenant has the expectation of mutual loyalty to the one flesh union.
The rule of the covenant is that you must not engage in any other relationship that involves a sexual one flesh relationship with someone else. It is like saying to our spouse, "If you commit an act of adultery, breaking the one rule of covenant then we are done here". Death to the relationship and marriage is the end result. Physical death is not at issue (absent murderous rage), but relational death happens.
Simplified, that is what God said that day in the Garden. The temptation to violate Creation's covenant relationship, came like another man or woman to a marriage. The temptation was embraced, the rule broken and the covenant relationship died.
We all know and suffer the consequences of that death. Without the security of a relationship with and to the Creator, without His wisdom and discernment, the lines between good and evil got muddied and the world became a hell-hole in man's pursuit of self.
We can even draw parallels between the immorality that occurs after the marriage bond is destroyed. Sexual sin becomes less and less "evil" and more and more prevalent and is even perceived as "good". Ouch, that one hurt.
But God so loved the world, that He sent His Son, and representative Jesus, the Christ to redeem us and to restore us back into Creation's covenant relationship.
Since flesh rebellion brought Spiritual death, flesh death was the only thing that could restore Spiritual life. And so Jesus came to die and pay the price that Adam and Eve had avoided.
If Adam and Eve had died physically, humanity would not exist. There would be no one created in God's own image with whom the Creator could enjoy a sweet fellowship like He had with man back in the Garden of Eden.
In an amazing act of unconditional love, the God of all Creation provided a way for His rebellious beloved to be restored to the original relationship with Himself.
We know it as the "Way of the Cross". The way does not involve our death but His. However, the way does involve a choice and decision like the one given Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Jesus is the tree of life. He always was. Could it be that the Tree of Life in the Garden looked like the Cross of Calvary and was not pleasing to the eye? I wonder about that because of what God said to Adam, "WHEN you eat of it you will surely die" He did not say, "IF" you eat of it you will surely die.
The clues about the ultimate Sovereignty of our God confirms that He knows the end from the beginning of all things. He knew in advance what Adam, Eve and the serpent would do. Nothing about the fall took God by surprise nor destroyed His ultimate plan for man.
Free will has always been our privilege and individual responsibility, and it continues to be so today.
The Holy One said "You need me". Having walked me back through the account of the human drama of creation, man's choice, human betrayal, and redemption, I understand the great need beyond the desperate desire for relationship with Him. I need Him on board to discern the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and to have God's perspective in my day to day experiences and decisions then I need Him to enable me to do good.
By way of the Cross, I have been restored in relationship with God and through the Holy Spirit of Christ, I have the wisdom, discernment and strength to see and do things God's way.
I freely confess I need the Holy Spirit. We all need Him, for He is the Spirit of Truth. As choices abound each and every day and while the knowledge of good and evil may challenge my mind, The Holy One gives me His discernment so I can know the difference between the two.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
But God so loved the world, that He sent His Son, and representative Jesus, the Christ to redeem us and to restore us back into Creation's covenant relationship.
Since flesh rebellion brought Spiritual death, flesh death was the only thing that could restore Spiritual life. And so Jesus came to die and pay the price that Adam and Eve had avoided.
If Adam and Eve had died physically, humanity would not exist. There would be no one created in God's own image with whom the Creator could enjoy a sweet fellowship like He had with man back in the Garden of Eden.
In an amazing act of unconditional love, the God of all Creation provided a way for His rebellious beloved to be restored to the original relationship with Himself.
We know it as the "Way of the Cross". The way does not involve our death but His. However, the way does involve a choice and decision like the one given Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Jesus is the tree of life. He always was. Could it be that the Tree of Life in the Garden looked like the Cross of Calvary and was not pleasing to the eye? I wonder about that because of what God said to Adam, "WHEN you eat of it you will surely die" He did not say, "IF" you eat of it you will surely die.
The clues about the ultimate Sovereignty of our God confirms that He knows the end from the beginning of all things. He knew in advance what Adam, Eve and the serpent would do. Nothing about the fall took God by surprise nor destroyed His ultimate plan for man.
Free will has always been our privilege and individual responsibility, and it continues to be so today.
The Holy One said "You need me". Having walked me back through the account of the human drama of creation, man's choice, human betrayal, and redemption, I understand the great need beyond the desperate desire for relationship with Him. I need Him on board to discern the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and to have God's perspective in my day to day experiences and decisions then I need Him to enable me to do good.
By way of the Cross, I have been restored in relationship with God and through the Holy Spirit of Christ, I have the wisdom, discernment and strength to see and do things God's way.
I freely confess I need the Holy Spirit. We all need Him, for He is the Spirit of Truth. As choices abound each and every day and while the knowledge of good and evil may challenge my mind, The Holy One gives me His discernment so I can know the difference between the two.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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