God surrounded Adam and Eve with living things that were very good (see Genesis 1). He wanted them to be fully convinced that He cared enough to provide for all of their needs. He especially wanted them to have a healthy relationship with Him. But He didn’t want it to stop there. Everything in the Creation story teaches us that faith and trust are grown, not simply given. It’s evident that even Adam and Eve had to grow in their confidence in God. As it was then, so it is today—faith is a process, not an on or off switch.

At first they stumbled in their relationship with God. He had warned them about one spot in Eden where they shouldn’t go—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That’s where a deceiver lay in wait. Holding a grudge against God, Satan (as the Bible calls him) desires to destroy God’s children any way he can. Eve saw a delightful fruit hanging there. It looked good. What harm could there be in it? Eve must have thought. So she listened to the serpent instead of the voice of the Father who loved her and had provided for her. Eve ignored divine instructions and ate the fruit. Then she convinced Adam to share it with her. And just that quickly, both the man and the woman had shattered the relationship of trust God was building in the garden.

But God didn’t just leave it alone. He had some choices to make:

Do I leave this planet to die on its own?

Do I destroy this world and start over with a new one?

Do I do something to win my creation back from the consequences of their own choices?

Infinitely wise and loving, God considered one outcome—the redemption of His creation. He went looking for the people He had made in His own image, the people He had lovingly created. His only thought was to restore their broken relationship with Him and to rebuild that trust.

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Genesis 28:15)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

In today’s world, filled with conflict and upheaval, we humans need to trust in a loving, powerful God, especially when our impulses lead us in a direction that is away from His design, His best intentions. Adam and Eve learned the hard way that trusting a caring Creator is better than trusting their own desires.

MY PRAYER

Lord, help me to trust that all of Your ways will lead me to wholeness and life everlasting. Amen.