He is my Delight

Genesis 3:3 “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ “

For the first time, I read this and realized that Eve may not have known what death was. This was before the fall. There was no death. Animals didn’t kill each other. People didn’t eat them. The warning she was given lost its effectiveness because she didn’t understand its consequences.

This is often the case-we disobey God having very little understanding what the consequences of that disobedience might be. Nobody disobeys God thinking they will be the one to die from that sin, or get pregnant from that sin, or catch a disease from that sin. When our mind is contemplating sin, the flesh’s desire for satisfaction will drown out all thought of consequences.

When our obedience to God depends upon the severity of the consequences of disobedience, we live in a dangerous place. Like Eve, we don’t always have the complete picture of what the consequences might be. When we learn to obey God just because we love Him, the consequences of sin will be irrelevant in our consideration of how to act. “Because I said so” was extremely annoying and insufficient from a parent. It is more than enough when it comes from the mouth of God.