10.13.26 – Ayecha: Where Are You? Part 3

In Genesis Chapter 1, we are introduced to the character of God. All we really know about Him is that He existed before the world was created. And yet, He makes the decision to bring us—humanity—and everything we need to survive into the picture. And God really does seem to go out of His way for humanity. Each of the days of creation, God declares about what He has made that it was good (except day two). And it is humanity that stands to benefit from all that goodness. Each day is another day of creation that needs to be declared as good, ki tov, before God can introduce man into the picture. In chapter 2, God declares that it is not good for man to be alone, and He creates the woman (Gen. 2:18). In the first two chapters we see that it is God who declares the difference between what is good and what is not good for mankind. Seemingly, God creates the world for man and tells him to be fruitful and multiply and conquer the earth (Gen. 1:26–28). Which brings us to the million-dollar question: What is the meaning of life?

Unfortunately, God does not come right out and tell us. What we can discern is that God's preparing the world for man was a great act of kindness, establishing the truth that He wants to have a relationship with us. In the opening two chapters, we find God giving man everything to enjoy freely, except there is only one restriction... the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:15–17). What a strange command—to create something that He does not want us to enjoy. And from the outside looking in, it appears to be a pretty easy command to keep, since man has freely been given everything else to enjoy. Yet man still failed. What happened?

It is true that God created and made all of these things for mankind, but in the process of the restriction, He wants us to be reminded that it came from Him. Let me explain. When my children were younger, and I gave them a gift, I wanted them to enjoy it, but in the context of the relationship. If my child would ever act as though they deserved the gift, forgetting who it was that actually gave it to them, the relationship becomes damaged between the giver and the receiver.

So God says, "Eat from all these trees, enjoy My garden, but I want you to know that it comes from Me because I want to have a relationship with you." And how are we going to show that we understand that and that we want to be in that relationship? By honoring the prohibition not to eat from God's one tree; that is how we convey our understanding that we are guests in the garden. We do not make the rules; God does. As long as Adam and his honey bunny realize that, they can have that relationship with God. But they failed. The temptation was to see yourself as the owner of the garden. If I am a guest, I owe gratitude; I am indebted to you. It is much easier if it is all mine; I make the rules, not God. Up until this point, God was the One who determined what was good and evil for mankind. When Adam and his honey bunny broke God's rule and ate from the tree, they took good and evil into their own hands. The text says: Vateireh ha'isha ki tov ha'etz l'ma'achal—that the woman saw that the tree was GOOD to eat from. This is the first time a human declares that something is good. The problem with that statement from the woman is that her perspective on what is good and evil is not God's. When people decide what is good, it is always tainted by desire. What we WANT becomes good, and what we do not like becomes bad. We are able to forget that we are guests in this world and to think that we are the owners, that we should make the rules, that the rules should be about what I think is good for me.

When Adam sins, God responds by cursing the ground that He had formed for man. Almost as if God is saying, "I gave you the world to enjoy, and it will produce for you! But if you cannot realize that it is from Me, if you want to pretend that you are the owner and act as God, determining what is good (tov) and evil (ra), let us see what you make of it on your own." He removed them from the home He built for them, allowing them to have access to the Garden still (Gen. 3:22–24), but it was not the same. The intimacy was affected.

Let us go back to the Cain and Abel story. When Cain saw Abel's offering was accepted and his was not, he got really upset. Instead of things getting better, they got much worse. But God lovingly reached out to Cain: "Hey, Cain, do not be so angry! If you do what is good (tov), you will be uplifted or accepted." There is that word again: Tov. God once again determines what is good, but Cain has another idea. He heard God clearly, but he took matters into his own hands and, as in the garden, death was the end result. Cain's fall is further than Adam's, and the curse is not only on the ground, but now on him.

What life lessons is the Lord teaching you?

Happy third day of the week!

Shalom!
Alan