Free Will
What is this you gave to us? You created us in your likeness.
We may choose the path we take,
the path of death and shame or one of righteousness.
You could have made us slaves to your will.
You could have forced allegiance to your sovereignty
But instead you gave us choice and free will, knowing the rebellion that you’d see.
You knew ahead the choice we’d make,
You saw the pain and death that would enter in,
You could see the freedom Satan would take, at the moment of original sin.
You must have known how it would grieve your heart,
To see how far we’d turn from your righteous call
But you knew in your heart right from the start,
That love that’s demanded is no love at all.
What is this you gave to us; you created us in your likeness.
Genesis 3: The Fall
In the first two chapters of the Bible, we learn of the creation of the world and of mankind. It tells us that the first couple, Adam and Eve, lived in a beautiful garden that was filled with everything that they could possibly want and need – it was paradise! Not only did they have the best of all worlds, but they walked with God. Did you catch that? They didn’t simply pray; they walked with God! God was there with them, walking, talking, and chatting about the events of the day. What could be more amazing?
Sadly, by just the third chapter of the Bible, all of that changed. God had given Adam just one rule to follow. He stated that they could eat from any tree of the garden except one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One rule! That’s it! By just obeying one rule, they could have lived forever in paradise!
Why is it that God didn’t want them to eat that particular fruit? The fruit from that tree was designed to open their minds to understand good and evil. If they had never eaten the fruit, they would never have to deal with the ugliness of evil but could simply live a life of trust and joy, walking daily with their creator.
But this was not to be. Satan crept into the garden as a snake and deceived Eve with a series of half-truths. Satan is the “Father of Lies”, but one of his most dangerous tactics is to manipulate the truth. First he told her that they would not die. While it was true that they would not immediately fall to the ground dead, their sin would lead to death over time. Next he told her that if they ate the fruit, they could be like God. I can almost imagine Eve giving consideration to his words. Perhaps she began to distrust the One who had created her. Was God hiding something important from them? Why would God forbid them from being like him if he was truly good? Or perhaps she justified her actions by thinking that somehow by having this knowledge, they could help God out. Whatever the reason or justification, it showed a marked lack of trust in their creator. Eve gave in to the temptation and convinced Adam to do the same. Adam knew that what he was doing was wrong, yet he chose to rebel.
Whenever we willfully make a wrong choice, we push ourselves away from God, and when we push away from God, bad things happen. Look, for a moment, at the actions of Adam and Eve following their rebellion. First, they hid. When we sin, we experience guilt. This is an innate feeling that we are born with. That guilt makes us want to hide that sin from others and, if grievous enough, to hide ourselves from others. We also move farther away from God.
Next, Adam and Eve started blaming. Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the snake. How often have we looked for excuses when our sin was discovered? How often have we looked for someone or something else to blame? These are the products of sin, and the result is broken relationships.
The problem with sin is that it can look very attractive. When Eve looked at the fruit, it was attractive to her. So was the thought of being like God. 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and in the same way, he disguises things that are bad for us as if they were good. Consider an affair. It looks attractive, and you may even feel as though you have found your soulmate. But consider the damage that divorce causes, not only to the couple, but to the children as well. And if someone already had an affair (or was willing to have an affair with someone already married), will there ever really be trust in the new relationship?
God doesn’t make rules to keep us from having fun. In the case of the tree in the garden, God wanted his children to remain innocent. Although there was never any chance that Adam and Eve would be like God — after all, God is too complex for any human to fully know — God did want to protect them from sin. If you don’t know sin, you don’t sin.
If you are a parent, you have hopefully set rules for your children. Do you set rules because you are trying to spoil their fun? Or perhaps it’s because it is fun to set rules? Or maybe you just don’t like your children? No – you set rules to protect your children and help them to make good decisions. God sets rules for the same reason.
As a result of their sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. Banishment was the only humane option. If they were allowed to stay and eat from the Tree of Life, also in the garden, they would live forever with the pain, guilt and shame that their disobedience had brought and with the ugly knowledge that now filled their heads. The only loving thing to do was to send them away. Further, when they sinned, they gave away the title deed to the earth to Satan, who remains the current ruler of the earth.
Fortunately for us, God already had a plan to save mankind from itself and buy the world back. It would come in the form of Jesus Christ who would lovingly give his own life to save ours. In Genesis 3:15, God told the snake (Satan) that he would put hostility between the offspring of a woman (Jesus) and him. Satan would strike his heel (the cross) but Jesus would strike Satan’s head by overcoming sin and death.
That leaves us with one final question – why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there in the first place??? God created us in His image with free will. He gave Adam and Eve a choice – just as He gives us – to live life in trust or to rebel. Yes, it may have made God’s life easier to force our will to his, but God doesn’t want robots; he wants relationships. Having a relationship with someone means that they are making a conscious decision to be with you and to trust you. “Love that’s demanded is no love at all.” It is our choice whether or not to love and obey God. He will never force us – He loves us too much.
Related Devotional
Resources
Because we live in a fallen world, we live in a world where bad things happen to good people. Often, it seems unfair, and many have blamed God when these “unfair” things happen. For an excellent discussion on this topic, read Ken Ham’s book, “How Could a Loving God?” The book can be found here: How Could a Loving God
You can also find a brief article on this same topic here: Answers In Genesis: How Could a Loving God
Music and lyrics by LuAnne Barnet. Copyright (c) 2004 LuAnne Barnet. All Rights Reserved
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Royalty-free images from Videoblocks.com
Information on the Creation Museum can be found at https://answersingenesis.org/
