¹⁵ And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 2:15-17

Life is full of choices, is it not? Today, you had to choose what outfit you wanted to wear, the way you wanted to do your hair, what you wanted to eat for breakfast, and what tasks you were going to prioritize. And you have probably made all of these decisions by 8:00 this morning.

According to research, the average person makes around 35,000 choices everyday. But in Genesis 2, the man and woman only had one choice to make. In this chapter, God gave the man, Adam, a responsibility and a restriction.

The responsibility that Adam was given was to “dress and keep” the garden. In other words, Adam was tasked with taking care of the garden, planting and harvesting the fruits and vegetables, etc.

The restriction that Adam was given was to refrain from eating from a tree in the middle of the garden called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he did, he would die.

The tree wasn’t poisonous, but it was off-limits and here’s why. God is providing a choice to humanity. Like Adam, we have the choice to trust in God’s infinite wisdom and goodness for how the world should be or we can choose to define for ourselves what is right and wrong, and we can lean onto our own understanding.

Up until now, God has provided and defined what is good and what is not good, but has now given humans the dignity and the freedom of choice. Will they choose to trust God or seize autonomy for themselves? How about you, dear reader? What will you decide this week?

Questions to consider this week:

1. Why is it often easier to trust ourselves rather than God, and how can we overcome that?
2. How does the command in Genesis 2:15-17 reflect God’s desire for a relationship built on trust and obedience?
3. How does this passage encourage us to view God’s commands as protection rather than restriction?
4. What areas in your life are you tempted to trust your own understanding instead of God’s Word?
5. How can you guard against making choices based on what seems good to you but contradicts God’s commands?