Therefore Choose Life
“See I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil: In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgements, that thou mayest live and multiply and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it…I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have sent before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:…And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil…And the LORD God commanded the man, saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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..”
This past week, God brought about some profound thoughts through the above verses. I hope you join me and soak in these thoughts too because I believe they will bless you as much as they blessed me!
In Deuteronomy, God is giving Israel a choice; the same choice He gave Adam and Eve and is still giving to humanity today and every day. The consequences are unchanged as are the blessings.
Humans are faced every day with 100s (if not 1,000s) of choices. Each decision has two options – one to the betterment and one to the detriment of the choice maker. God’s will is that mankind chooses the life more abundantly He offers however He will not force. The fact is, it wouldn’t be a relationship if He didn’t offer free will choices, but at the same time, God cannot deny Himself so along with the choice He shares His heart’s desire (which is always for our best) in the hopes we will choose what is best for us too.
Now back to Adam and Eve. This is an important piece I don’t want you to miss!
God planted a special garden just for Adam and Eve; a home that was to be sacred unto them for all eternity. They were the first to experience God’s choice blessings and what it is to commune with God – face to face – a most holy connection that was lost to sin and regained by Jesus
However, when God made the garden, He did a curious, but necessary thing. He placed before them an unforgettable choice, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Every day they had a choice to choose life or death, good or evil. In the beginning I think the choice was easy. I mean what could be better than what they had?? Who cares if they could know about good AND evil, knowing only good was good enough and there didn’t seem to be a reason to change it…until Satan challenged them to actively contemplate their choice. It’s easy to choose what is right when no one and nothing is making wrong seem better than right BUT as soon as wrong is brought to the forefront and elevated in the mind as better, well that is when the real decisions get made. They decided to believe a snake they just met more than the person who had spent personal time building a relationship with them. It’s a choice that required God to give His one and only Son to redeem and its effects are still felt around the world today.
The tree of life was the knowledge of only God’s goodness whereas the tree of knowledge of good and evil meant their decision making about good and bad would get a whole lot more complicated. It was no longer a matter of choosing not to eat from one tree. It meant facing the depth of depravity the human soul can reach when God is no longer welcome or able to dwell in perfect unity with a perfect soul.
So why does all that matter? The garden is a beautiful picture of God giving a home: a gift and responsibility to Adam and Eve that was theirs to tend and keep even after their children multiplied and filled the earth. Much like the marriage chamber is sacred even after children are born or people come to visit, the garden was a hallowed place between God and Adam and Eve. It was like the holy of holies and they were the keepers. I believe their life in the garden was to be a living example to future generations of what it looks like to walk with God and choose life…again and again and again.
We too have been given a garden; the place where God has us and the responsibilities and relationships He has given us to tend and watch over. And just like He did for Adam and Eve and Israel, He puts before us two daily choices - life and death, good and evil. He passionately loves us, but He wants us to choose to love Him back. He wants us to decide we desire His goodness and love as much as He longs to give it to us. He wants us to know the joy and blessing that comes from picking life more abundantly. Love and trust must be chosen, or they aren’t either one.
If God placed great emphasis on the power of choice from the beginning, then I too want to carefully consider the choices I make when it comes to my heart, soul, mind, and body. Like Adam and Eve figured out the hard way, God’s ways are always best and choices really do carry the power to ultimately give life or death over one’s destiny.
Therefore, choose life.
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