Genesis 2

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:16-17

Genesis 1 makes it clear that everything God created is good. What God created and what man created are two different stories though. There are the things we call man made and we cannot assume these things to be good because they lie outside of creation. What we create as men can be either good or evil as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil suggests. God gave Adam a command to stay within God's creation of what is good. What we will see continue to unfold is that man goes outside of God's command and His design by eating of the tree that God specifically said not to which invites in good or evil.

Thinking about this in terms of our life today, it is an instruction to live in God's design that is good. Outside of what He has created, we cannot be so sure that everything is good. When we venture outside of what God has created then we will come in contact with both good and evil. The danger that comes from participating in something that is not from God is the potential to invite in evil.

The most obvious example is social media which can be used for either good or evil but we are not in control of whether we see good on it or evil. It is a wise choice then to not indulge in things where we know we are inviting in evils. I think a sense of what God is commanding here is to be attentive of what we eat. What do we take in? Are we willingly allowing both good and evil in or are we following His path of goodness?

God provides commands for us. Are we willing to follow them?

I believe Genesis 2 is commanding us to know that God is the one who breathes life into us. He wants to provide for us just as He wanted to provide the perfect helper fit for Adam. He allowed Adam to search the Earth and look at all the available creatures to determine that none were a fit before God created and provided a woman fit for Him. We must also use discernment to search the Earth for what is a good gift from God! He will create and provide the perfect opportunity when we seek good over evil. My response is to seek Him through His word and follow Him through His commands.