Recognizing Your Limit

Daily Devotional: Day 109

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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, NKJV).

When God created Adam, He gave him one commandment to keep. Adam (and his wife, Eve) could partake of every tree in the garden of Eden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were forbidden to eat. The name of the tree is significant, so let’s talk about it briefly. It was called the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil.” Notice that the tree had to do with knowledge. God didn’t want them to have this kind of knowledge. In fact, God said that the day they ate of it, they would die. In other words, God’s purpose for giving them the commandment was to protect them from death. This also means that God loved Adam and Eve. There’s a lot we can learn from today’s Scripture, but let’s focus today on just one thing: knowledge.

Not all knowledge is beneficial or good for us. Some knowledge is harmful and dangerous. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them access to some knowledge. But there was one kind of knowledge He specifically didn’t want them to have: the knowledge of good and evil.

 In fact, in Deuteronomy 29:29, the Word of God says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” This means God has reserved certain things to Himself, and we need to be careful so that our curiosity for knowledge does not lead us away from God. God can handle every form of knowledge and not be compromised. But we are not God. Though we are made in the image and likeness of God, and we are born of God through the new birth, we are still human. This means we must be humble and be careful not to cross certain barriers God has erected for our own protection.

Pray to the Father about today’s message. God bless you!

For further study: Acts 1:4-8