Kim Gentes

God Provides

From the start, God has provided for us and given us sustenance (food), even in His creative acts in Genesis.  Our sinless progenitors (before the fall) were given food (Genesis 1:29).  In fact, God didn't just provide plants and fruit for food, he also provided it as enjoyment, something that was pleasing- "...trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food..." (Genesis 2:9a). God blessed and made provision that was:

1. Pleasurable - "pleasing to the eye"
2. Sustenance -  "good for food"

In the midst of the sustenance and enjoyment, there stood two trees in the center of the garden: "...the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9b).  In this second reading of the creation (the first is in Genesis 1, the second begins in Genesis 2:4 and continues to verse 25), there is a bit more detail of the timeline in regards to God's provision and instructions on the food/trees in the garden.

Specifically, it is clear that God formed Adam from the dust and breathed life into him.  God had planted the garden and the trees in it (Genesis 2:8-9) and provided a river to water the garden (Genesis 2:10-14). God then placed Adam in the garden to work it (Genesis 2:15). At this point, God gives His specific instructions about the trees in garden.  He specifically then tells Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17).  After giving Adam this instruction, God then considers that Adam is alone and decides to make a helper for him. At this point, God creates woman and introduces her to Adam (Genesis 2:18-25).  It is interesting to note that Adam is given the instruction about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, before Eve is yet created.  Even if you believe that both man and woman were created before this instruction was given (Genesis 1:26-30 has a more compact rendering of details that could be interpreted as a different event sequence), it is still very clear in Genesis 2:16-17 that the command was given to Adam, not Eve.

Tempted: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The events that follow are well known to all of us.  The serpent comes to tempt the woman.  The woman clearly has been told what God had said about the  tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:2-3). The serpent responds not with an incontrovertible lie, but with a lie ("you will not surely die" Genesis 3:4) mixed with truth ("...your eyes will be opened...knowing good and evil" Genesis 3:5). The choice before the man and woman (both where there- "...her husband, who was with her..." Genesis 3:6b) is summarized clearly in verse 6-

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom..."

This statement is in clear contrast to Genesis 2:9, which specifically lists just the first two components of pleasure and sustenance. Now the woman sees this list of attributes to the provision:

1. Pleasurable - "pleasing to the eye"
2. Sustenance -  "good for food"
3. Knowledge of good and evil - "desirable for gaining wisdom"

In seeing this, "she took some and ate it." (Genesis 3:6b) The husband quickly followed suite "and he ate it" (Genesis 3:6b). Strangely, they had not completely misinterpreted the list of attributes that the serpent had promised when he had said "...your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). In fact, upon taking the fruit, "then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;" (Genesis 3:7). In a very real sense, Adam and Eve received what they had desired- pleasure, sustenance and the knowledge of good and evil.  Yet, omitted from the summary of attributes of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was two important points in the conversation:

1. God had declared that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would ensure they would die (Genesis 2:17)
2. The serpent had promised that they would "be like God"

Believing Lies

The temptation of Adam and Eve happened through a series of accepting lies.  Regarding the first point, they believed the serpent's word that they would not die over the word of God that stated contrary. But verse 6 is quite self-revealing about the thought process of the woman- aside from just lusting for the illicit promises of sin, it abstains from thinking about the cost of sin.  Death is not mentioned in verse 6, though it is mentioned in every other passage by God, the woman and the serpent up to that point.

The language of verse 6 also has an important adjustment to the wording of the consequence of their actions.  Instead of "you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5)- the woman imagines that the fruit is "desirable for gaining wisdom" (verse 6). The commonality is that in both statements, the serpent (who speaks in verse 5) and the woman (seeing in verse 6) agree with the implication of acquiring knowledge. But what kind of knowledge is it?  It is the knowledge of good and evil.  It is the ability to comprehend and discern what is right and what is wrong.  But it is even more than this, because the serpent's promise implied some activity that only God could engage in "you will be like God" (Genesis 3:5).

We know this could not have been simply the recognition of truth and lie.  Adam and Eve already had this ability to hear an untruth and to parse it as a lie, and to respond back with correction.  In Genesis 3:1 the serpent first presents the lie (in the form of a question). The woman replies in verse 2 and 3, correcting the serpent's questioning of what God had said on the subject.  The mechanism for seeing truth and lie and maintaining a correct perspective was already part of the human comprehension.

Sin Takes Hold

So just what was it that the tree was promising?  The serpent presented it as this- "you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Indeed, God acknowledges that man did "become like one of Us, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:22). However, this knowledge that Adam and Eve gained did not bring wisdom. Instead, it brought shame (Genesis 3:7 "they knew they were naked") and fear (Genesis 3:8 "[they] hid themselves from the presence of the Lord" and verse 10 "...I was afraid because I was naked").

What Adam and Eve gained was to discover a new depth of knowledge about good and evil.  One that went from simply knowing of it to venturing into the experience of it.  They could see it before (as dissociated, impersonal knowledge) in Genesis 3:1-3, but once they became immersed in the experience of it (actually being disobedient to God by eating the fruit from the tree) they were at a loss. Why? Because along with this experience of good and evil, they did not gain the power and wisdom of God to touch it without being changed by it.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was both the truth and metaphor in one.  The tree contained a consummate comprehension that only God Himself had power over.  Not that God was "discovering" anything, but simply the "having" of the knowledge was corruption to mortal beings, while God would not be changed by its understanding, because He was Himself, unchangeable.

Judgment

Until recently, it was at this point that I had settled my understanding of Genesis.  In the last few days, I have seen a bit more about this section of Scripture through the help of a book by Gregory Boyd ("Repenting of Religion").  In revisiting the Genesis account, Boyd asserts, that something even more important was happening in regards to the knowledge of good and evil. What else did this knowledge bring? Boyd says, it is judgement.

Why? Because actually having the knowledge of good and evil requires a wisdom that only God can both preside over and act upon- the wisdom of judgement. In acting outside of God's instruction, Adam and Eve determined themselves to be better judges of what was best for them than God.  The tree exemplified this crucible of judgement.  And to take for ones self the fruit of that tree meant you intended to become the one who could judge. In his book "Repenting of Religion", Gregory Boyd takes the concept of judgment as the core offense attained to man at the initial sin act. He expands on it to say that through our disobedience in the garden we transplanted our primary purpose in existence -to love and be loved in God- for an unholy convening with judgment. (if you want to read in more detail on Boyd's thoughts, go get yourself a copy of "Repenting of Religion")

Tempted Away From God's Provision

As I was thinking about all this, I realized that the provision of God (including the trees of the garden and the allowable fruit from the Tree of Life) is a clear metaphor for so much of God's sustenance.

God gives an abundance of provision.  In the case of creation, God did not just give us a few trees. Genesis 1:29 clearly states that the entire earth was populated with plants and trees yielding fruit and seed that was ours for food.  As if that wasn't enough, after planting a garden the Lord specifically places fruitful trees in it for food and encourages man to eat from them.  He even includes the fruit of the Tree of Life as available to Adam and Eve.  Yet, instead of choosing from all that God had provisioned for both pleasure and sustenance (Genesis 2:9), we chose instead to walk into disobedience in hopes of getting something forbidden, something "unknown".

This brings me to my question for this journal entry- where are you eating from?  What place are you drawing your sustenance (food) and enjoyment (pleasure) from?  Is it from the deep well of God's current revelation to you (the scriptures, His operative will in your life, your family, your community of faith)?

Or are you looking to another place for your food? Perhaps you are looking towards the wistful aspirations of what you may "gain" by getting something you do not have. Perhaps you are looking for something much bigger than your current life, much more important than your current job, much more noble than the simplicity of loving your family.  Over the years, I have seen people allow their appetites to consume their conscience.  They have become driven by desires rather than deepening the integrity of their current lives.  Some have allowed even a quest for revelation to overrule their commitment to relationships.

Jesus: The Bread of Life

As I read the Genesis account again, I have to ask myself these kinds of questions.  They help steady my passions (pleasure) and my needs (sustenance) to where those questions are answered with pure love. They are answered not in a location, a teaching, a church, or even a new revelation from God.  They are answered in the words we read in John 6:

it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

There is just one place we can go for our sustenance, our life- the person of Jesus.  He does not just have the answers and the sustenance of life- He is the bread of life.  He is our completeness, not through external provisions, but through direct personal relationship with Him.  He may indeed bring many things with Him, as we encounter His pouring out of love through His blessings. But He never intended anything else, including His blessings, to become our provision. He, Himself, is our provision.

Understanding this and living in Christ as our provision is more than theory.  It happens right now, even as you read this.  Are you worried about your romantic relationship with your spouse?  Are you concerned about your monthly bills bearing down on finances that simply are failing? Are you broken by the rebellion of your children? Are you lost in a sinful pattern of inescapable addiction or painful hopelessness?

The Answer

Jesus does not just have answers, He is the answer.  Any condition you find yourself in right now has just one point of resolution: the person of Jesus. Whatever place in life you are at, stop right now.

Stop and speak from your heart to Him. Pour out your heart, your pain, your emptiness and even your fullness of your own success.  Admit that nothing satisfies. Admit that your emptiness and your fullness still seem desolate in comparison with actually knowing Jesus. Speak this out to Him.  Invite Him to become the bread of your life, the sustenance of your existence.  As you turn yourself over to Him, He will trade your life for His.   You will never go hungry again, and you will never be thirsty again (John 6:35).  This is not a vague promise, it is a simple truth.  It means you have a relationship with the person Who spoke the universe into being and personally created you. He will not leave a relationship with you or rip His sustenance from your life. Just as Adam and Eve had the entire earth covered with the provision of God (Genesis 1:29), God has now permeated the universe with His love (Romans 8:38-39) so that you cannot escape from His presence.

When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by fear, look to Christ, whose love overpowers all fear. When you feel hopeless, look to Jesus, who is your Hope. When you are flooded by the demands of this world, let your heart rest in the counsel of God Himself, who says :

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Places We Eat (ThinkJump Journal #10 with Kim Gentes @ Kimgentes.com)