“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. (Genesis 3:4)
We had just left the house for the store to buy some more supplies. I was in the 10th grade and one of the first in my class to get my driver’s license. It was homecoming week at my high school and the sophomore class was busily working on a float for the parade.
A couple guys got in the car with me to go the three or four miles. Like many young, inexperienced teenagers (and some adults for that matter), I was very distracted and not paying attention to how fast I was going. My purpose for being in the car went from going to the store to being “cool” with my classmates. All of a sudden I see flashing blue lights and hear a siren. My lack of focus just cost me big time!
The very first couple, Adam and Eve, knew that God was their owner, master, and friend. The Bible tells us as much in Genesis chapter two. As far as we can tell, God gave the man one command, which the Lord certainly expected him to share with the woman, “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17) Often times we focus on what God said they could not do, but imagine how many trees were likely in the garden they could eat from – my guess is hundreds or thousands. What a gracious God!
In Genesis 3, the serpent came to Eve and distracted her from doing what she knew was the right thing to do. He told her that she would not die as the Lord said but that she would be like him if she ate from the tree. The fruit looked good to her in every way so she disobeyed God and ate it, thus bringing the first sin into the world.
As stewards of God (those entrusted with his possessions including our own lives), we can get distracted by seemingly good things, which we think will benefit us. Sometimes we even think they will enhance our relationship with God. We can tend to take things into our own hands rather than go to God and listen to Him.
Living as a steward or manager, we need to acknowledge that God is the owner of all we possess, even our own lives. We then go to him in prayer seeking his will rather than our own. As we are able to discern his will, we obey him and reap the blessing of that obedience. Does it always mean everything will go our way? No. God is still the owner and master and sometimes his ways are not always what we want. We trust Him to know what is best even in those difficult situations.
