“God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.’ … And the LORD God planted a garden on Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you do eat of it you shall die.’ … But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and they ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
Devotional thought: Whose voice do I listen to? Whose commands/rules do I follow? God said, “for in the day that you do eat of it you shall die.” The serpent said, “You will not die.” They ate, they didn’t physically die, so one could argue the serpent was correct. However, they separated themselves from the presence of God. They cut themselves off from and out of that which God intended for them. Life abundant became life; life with God, in God’s Kingdom, became a place of fear, not because of anything God did but because of what they did, against what God commanded. What, who tempts you to touch, to eat that which God forbids? Is there someone in your life, someone you care deeply about, who would lead you to make a decision(s) that would separate you from God? Stand firm, don’t touch that tree!