Genesis 2
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 3
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
God eternally separated light & darkness. He does not change. Test yourself, whether you serve this God who calls evil, evil and good, good.
Whatever God makes, He makes very good. Whatever you plan and do (even your future), it will be best if you let Him do it for you, for He does it the best. The garden of Eden was a place of true happiness, for they had fellowship with God there. This is true paradise, to have fellowship with God. Even today we can live in paradise by walking with God. Many blame Adam and Eve for their sin, and for the troubles we have today, but they don’t realise that God gave them similar opportunities, and they failed too. They had many opportunities to meet with God, have their sins washed away, and enter a life of fellowship with Him, yet they spurned it time and again. Each and everyone had sinned and come short of God’s glory.
Take for example a very well-built car. If you operate it according to the operating instructions in the handbook, it will give you many years of faithful service and joy. God gave us life and gave us the handbook, the Bible, where it specifies what is best for us. Many people don’t follow the handbook’s instructions, wreck their life and blame God.
Eve was alone when Satan tempted her. It is dangerous to walk alone as a Christian. The Bible speaks about the blessedness of believers being together in fellowship. First Satan posed a question, questioning God’s command. Then he denied that there’s harm in doing what God had expressly forbidden. Then he suggested that there’s actually an advantage in sinning. You cannot negotiate with the devil – you are sure to lose, e.g. when Peter tried to turn Jesus from the cross, which He knew was God’s will, Jesus rebuked Peter sharply, ‘behind me, Satan’. We cannot negotiate with sin. When temptation comes, we cannot be soft, but must deal with it ruthlessly. We must learn from our Lord.
Eve drew Adam into sin. Does that excuse sin? When you fall into sin, you have either of two options: Either you repent and ask God for forgiveness, or you draw others with you in the sin. Even if a hundred people falls into sin, because of your sin, God will still justly punish sin. If God excuse us of sin because we drew others with us into sin, He will have to apologise to them. They received their punishment.
After they sinned, they saw their nakedness; their sweet fellowship with Him became bitter, and they were afraid of Him. How is it with you? Is His Word still sweeter than honey, or has it become bitter because of sin? If you have sinned and find your fellowship broken, run to God and ask for forgiveness. Do not excuse your sin, but acknowledge it.
Some older Christians start to trust in their own discernment, like the elders of Israel and Joshua, who never enquired of the Lord about the Gibeonites. Watch your life that your fellowship with Him stays unbroken.