Life and Knowledge

Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Life, as per our understanding is all about planning, toiling and then success. Unless success is attained, life becomes meaningless according to the world’s standards. But according to verse 3, the resting day was the blessed one. The verse clearly mentions that God rested from His work and not after His work. The rest was not a result of hard work but it is a separation from all worldly issues to concentrate on God Himself. The importance will be seen in Exodus 35:2. This was given to a generation who had not received grace yet. They were to work for 6 days and spend time with the Lord in the seventh day. We are expected to spend all seven days to the Lord. This does not apply for full time ministers alone. In fact full time ministry is not something separated to specific people. We are all given the responsibility to live as living sacrifices.

If we read John 1:4, Life was present only in Jesus. The tone in introducing Jesus is that He had the wonderful element of life which was not present in anybody else. This life was the light of men. We were enlightened on how life should be lived when we saw Jesus live His life. Jesus defined what success is. This was a life which never succumbed to the darts of the world and the earth. When his anger was provoked through false accusations, he did not give way to it. But at a time when there should have been peace at the temple just after everybody exalting Him singing “hosanna” at the gates of the city. He did not change with the circumstances around Him, but created circumstances. That is the example of a great leader and a successful warrior.

And life is something that is present inside and not outside. Just as knowledge is something we enjoy inside and then make use of it externally, life is similar. God had breathed life inside us and searching for life outside is toiling in vain. When God said “you will surely die”, it did not mean death in this world, for God’s eyes those who are not in grace are already dead.

We can also understand that the plants of the “field” were not grown because of the absence of rain and man’s work. But, God was very supportive that he sent the mist that did not require both the rain and man’s tilling. Of the four rivers, only one was present when Moses was writing this book. We also see the word “garden” which means that it was completely decorated and Adam was put there. This is the life God wants to give us.

But, the only thing that God had positioned opposite to life is knowledge of good and evil. God sees that this knowledge is dangerous to man. But we are required to ignore this knowledge and seek life instead. These simple decisions are the hardest to mankind. There are two trees in the middle of the garden which means that Adam was free to eat the tree of life. The reason why God had denied knowledge of good and evil is that we should depend on God to make decisions. The immediate next verse mentions how God saw “it was not good” for man to be alone. This good and bad decision is something God had always wanted to make. That’s why the serpent uses the word “you will be like God knowing good and evil”. Man was already in the image and likeness of God. He also had access to the fruit of life which would provide eternal life. He also had dominion over all the other living beings (1:26). The only attribute that was lacking was this knowledge or deciding between good and evil. But this knowledge caused him to lose life. God had clearly warned Adam what is good between knowledge and life and expected him to choose between the two.

Also, one wrong choice and one disobedient act will lead to the end and cause man to choose evil and not anything that is good. That is the effect of choices. All God expects from us is to trust in Him without questioning and accept His way. If we want to decide ourselves, even a simple decision like choosing between a forbidden and a life giving fruit will fail. That dependency is something we need to build.

In verses 18 and 20, we can read God and man together searching for a suitable helper to Adam. This was the reason God had made and sent all the animals towards him to choose. The word helper is used because of the duty man had to perform. This duty was not just to tend and keep the garden, but also to keep himself away from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the role of a spouse here. God saw that it is not good for a man to be alone. This decision was from God and it was the best. When God decides on what is required, we always get the best.

All God wants man to do is live a life that depends on Him and trust in Him for everything. We are expected to be calm and rest with Him. But our wrong choices drag us towards toiling and suffering for simple needs. We are just surviving now because of unwanted knowledge and dangerous decisions.  God wants us to live and not just survive.

Amen.