Is It Evil In Your Eyes To Serve The LORD?

The garden of Eden brings to light to many details that are important in understanding who God is and His intentionality over our lives.

Genesis 2:8-9

The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, 

in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  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.  

From the onset of creation God's plan was to give us free will.  He planted the garden and made fruit bearing trees spring up that were pleasing to look at and he placed Adam there.  Two of the trees that grew there provided more than just delicious fruit.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we discover after the fall, provided mankind the ability to know both good and evil.  Once they had disobeyed God and been found guilty, the God head, in his loving care for his creation, decided that he must remove the tree of life from the garden.

"Behold, the man has become like one of us 

in knowing good and evil.  

Now, lest he reach out his hand and 

take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever -" 

therefore the LORD God sent him out 

from the garden of Eden to work the ground 

from which he was taken.  He drove out the man, 

and at the east of the garden of Eden 

he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword 

that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.  

Although Adam and Eve were in danger when around these two trees, the LORD God gave them access to all that he had created despite the potential for suffering that would indeed follow their disobedient act.  The Creator's desire for his creation to obey and love him out of their own volition was the theme of the garden.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He allows us to be in the midst of evil and he desires that we would choose life rather than death.

Joshua 24:14-15

"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him 

in sincerity and in faithfulness.  

Put away the gods that your fathers served 

beyond the River in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, 

choose this day whom you will serve, 

whether the gods your father served... 

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

In order to serve God in sincerity and faithfulness we must put away things from our lives that we tend to erect in our minds that serve as idols of our heart and distort our view of God.  There are areas in our lives where we, in our deception, view God's withholding his good things as evil.  In our deception we begin to believe that in some regard, to fully serve God is evil.

Fear is a prominent idol in the heart of God's people throughout the theme of the Bible and inevitably it leads to idolatry which leads to bondage for the people of God.  Just like Adam and Eve, who believed that God was not worth serving in that moment and were fearful that they were going to miss out on being like God, we too allow fear a place in our hearts when we question God's placement and timing in our lives.

We do the very same thing in our lives when we disregard God's commands and choose to serve the evil of our own hearts instead of believe that God's sovereign intentionality over our lives is for our good and His glory.

We exchange the truth for a lie and decide that we can be faithful to God all the while serving the idols of our heart, not realizing that we are outside of God's will, banned, in essence, from His presence.

My Pastor made a statement on Sunday that sums up the truth that we see even here in the garden.

"Evidently, efficiency, ease and convenience, are not God's highest priorities."

God had the ability to keep Adam and Eve free from temptation in the garden however, it is not necessarily God's way to make our lives free from obstacles and decisions.  He wants us to choose His way and He allows us to make our own decisions even though those decisions may lead to bondage.

Father, thank you for allowing us to walk through life seeking your face at each turn, looking to you as we must make decisions so that we can walk without fear into your plan for our lives.  Even though many times  we have to traverse the unknown, we will not be fearful.  Help us to keep our eyes and hearts on Your intentional love and care over our lives this coming year and trust You in new ways, casting aside the idols of our heart where sin and deception are continually produced.  Grow us into flourishing trees of righteousness for your name sake.