Creating Man: Gifts for the Adventurous Sample

First Lesson

I want to go back to Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.‘”

We are free, but with boundaries. Here God was establishing that He alone is God. Adam’s first lesson is that he cannot be his own god. Every man has to truly learn that we are not God but servants of the most high. We live in His house. We obey His guidelines, and we suffer consequences when we think we can make up the rules or do as we please without consequences.

Remember, the story of Adam is a story where God is the central character. God imagined man, created man, breathed into man, provided for man, led man and created a world of dependence on God to live without the consequences of God.

These boundaries are for our own good. God gets no pleasure when His son or daughter chooses a path they know not to travel and then has consequences for those journeys.

Living in a world where He is God, He is good, and He wants to lead us is a great world to live in. When we don’t believe in His word of ‘do this’ (worship Him) or ‘don’t do these’ (commandments, etc.), we set up a world where we decide what is good or evil for us.

I have counseled thousands who made the simple mistake of believing themselves, emotions, or hormones, and making decisions that they clearly knew were against who they knew God to be and His clear path.

As long as Adam lived in a dependent, obedient relationship with God, his life was much easier. When God gives us a boundary, it is like a loving father saying “Here is the way. Don’t do that; it will hurt you. I love you and want only the best for you.“

The lesson of “God is God” is a great lesson. The awareness that we live in a house He built, and this house has real boundaries for our own good, is a real lesson we can lean on - the story of God creating Adam.