Genesis 2:4-9 – The choice is ours to make, choose wisely!

In Genesis 1, we see a logical sequence God took to create everything. He started with the environment, the habitat, before He brought about life forms. It reveals how logical God is, whom we worship and serve. In Genesis 1 we are told that God spoke and creation came into being and from it, we know God is the source of all creation. He is the source of life and without Him there would be no life. Now in Genesis 2:4-9 we are brought back to the point before man was brought into existence. God began by setting the tone and conditions for the creation of man. He even thought about food production to sustain the man. He already saw to the soil and the seed. Now He would get the climate and culture going. All four ingredients, soil, seed, climate and culture are needed for food production. The soil and seed were present on the third day but there was no rain and no proper climate as yet. So God began by putting in place the process of rainmaking here. We are told that man was not in existence as yet to cultivate the earth. For He was only made on the sixth day.  

Verse 6 speaks of a movement on earth. There was a mist that rises from the earth and brought moisture to it. This could be the dew that we all know and experience every morning. This is part of the rain-making process. This dew brought newness and freshness to living things.  Like the dew of the morning that moisturizes the earth, God wants to bring the dew of the Holy Spirit to moisturize our life each day. It is the Holy Spirit who will bring the vital ingredients to facilitate our spiritual growth. And in verse 7, we see how man was formed. God formed man from the dust of the earth. He first gathered the dust into the shape He wanted man to be. That shape included the nostrils for God to breathe life into the man. And that was exactly what God did. From the heap of dust God brought forth life. Man became a living soul because God breathed His life into him. We see that man is a tripartite being – spirit, soul and body. The dust became the body, the breath God breathe into him brought about the spirit and the soul. The vital difference between man and all of the other creation of God is that man has the breath of God. He has the vital ingredient that will enable him to know God and then to worship Him. God made us and we are kept alive by His breath. What a thought!    We are at our best when God by His Spirit breathe into us each day. He will bring the vibrancy to life and living.

God placed man in the Garden of Eden which He also caused all kinds of trees to grow in it. Here Genesis specifically speaks of two trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What do they symbolize?  The two trees speak of two kinds of influence we can have in life. One, the tree of life will influence right living. The other, the tree of knowledge of good and evil kills spiritual sensitivity. We can safely surmise that the Word of God is the tree of life. Being influenced by it bring spiritual life and vibrancy. The flesh and our own self-centred reasoning can be likened to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When we rely on our reasoning, sometimes we get it right but most times we get it wrong, because of imperfect revelation. Over relying on this latter tree kills spiritual sensitivity. 

What do we want out of life? The choice we make will determine the outcome of our life. Partaking of the tree of life, the Word of God, brings positive spiritual experiences with God. We must make the choice each day where we should begin, with the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? The choice is ours to make, but the choice is also clear!