City Life Starter

Written by Aisha Darwesh

The Word

⁴ These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵ When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:4-17 (ESV)

“through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Revelations 22:2 (ESV)

Aisha’s Analysis

Today’s verses show us a variety of things, but here are a few of my takeaways: 1) the earth was not fruitful without water to nourish it or man to cultivate it; 2) God planted two trees in the midst of the garden (the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil); 3) God created rivers to water the earth and man to work and keep the garden; and 4) God commanded the man not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

Today I want to focus on the last few verses (v. 15-17) in which God placed Adam in the garden of Eden to work it and commanded him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

I love that God placed Adam exactly where he needed to be to fulfill God’s assignment for his life. Also, it is worthy to note that while God specifically commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge, there is no mention of God telling Adam about the tree of life (Andrew E. Steinmann, Genesis, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). 

Isn’t that interesting? It sometimes seems like what we can’t have in life is blaringly loud, yet what is freely available and what truly satisfies remains to be discovered. That is what makes our relationship with God so beautiful. He tells us what is off limits not to withhold anything from us, but to teach us to trust Him. 

True satisfaction is found in trusting God. Perhaps God did not want Adam to eat from that tree and know what is good and evil because God wanted to play that role in his life. Imagine if Adam never ate from the tree of knowledge. What would his day-to-day life look like? Maybe he would faithfully cultivate the garden as he was assigned and would pass by the tree of knowledge every day. Every single instance in which he chose not to eat from that tree would have been an expression of his trust in God. 

What’s more, when we are trusting God day-by-day by choosing to continually follow His commands, who’s to say we will not stumble upon something even better–the tree of life. 

Application

How can you express trust in God? What has He clearly communicated to you is off limits, but yet you remain tempted to pursue? First of all, there is no condemnation in Christ. If you want to partake of something God has expressly told you is not for you, there is no need to feel ashamed. Simply take that desire back to God and trust Him to fulfill your needs. 

Looking to other things to fulfill us leaves us empty and wanting, but trusting and obeying God brings the richest sense of purpose and satisfaction. Right now, make the choice to trust and obey God, and leave evil in the dust!

Prayer

Father God, thank You for satisfying my every need in Christ. Because of You, I have everything I could possibly want and then some! I have You! What could be better than that?! In Jesus’ name, amen.