Trading Sunrises for Fig Leaves

“And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree…but do not eat from the tree…’” Gen 2:16

I wonder how many sunrises Adam witnessed before he found himself banished from the garden. I wonder how many hours he and Eve strolled through the beautiful trees awaiting the evening show of God’s handiwork. All they had to do was look as far as their eyes would take them. What were their dreams as they splashed their feet in one of the four rivers of Eden? The place was both overwhelming with beautiful fruit and hypnotizing with beauty. The blooms on the trees provided aromas never inhaled before. Their bare feet felt the moisture of the dew on the ground as they walked downs the path God laid out for them. Along with God’s beautiful blessing of that place, He made sure to give Adam and Eve the authority of the garden. He spoke those words that every heart chases after even today after thousands of years, ‘You are free…’ But God gave them ONE boundary in their freedom…ONE thing that was off limits…ONE thing that He asked of them. And that ONE thing was the jugular that the serpent went for, and in that one thing they traded sunrises for fig leaves.

Satan will always meet us in our blessings. He crawls in unsuspectingly camouflaged and tries to steal our gardens. One day we are watching sunrises and the next day we are sewing fig leaves. The ironic truth is that he gains freedom through our captivity, and a foothold in our lack. He tramples on our emotions when we are walking in grief or loneliness…He taunts us in our sadness when we are not getting what our heart desires…he is a thief and a coward for his prey is rarely the strong man or woman. I wonder if Eve was already lingering around the forbidden tree. I wonder if she got bored with the blessings God had given her. At what point did she begin wondering was God holding out on her. It seems to me that what happened to her happens to us. Our feet follow where our hearts lead…

And that is the dilemma of the garden…what is missing from our lives sits in the center of our desires. There is a safe distance we must keep from those things God has set boundaries for us. We cannot linger around the one thing we cannot have lest we meet the devil there. We must trust God when He says that we are free but believe Him when He sets those boundaries in place. The serpent would tell us that God is holding out…holding back…while God sets His sights on freedom for us. We must walk in the freedom of the Spirit, instead of the discontent of the flesh. God is still planting good and perfect trees in our gardens, and if there is one from which we cannot yet eat, it is because the juice of the fruit is not yet the sweetest. We must believe God for the great and perfect things He has planted in our gardens.