The Tree That Opened Our Eyes

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate."

(Genesis 3:6 ESV)

Everything was created. Everything was peaceful. Everything was perfect.

And everything was very good.

Tree leaves glistened in the daylight and fluttered away in the breeze as Adam and Eve walked through The Garden, tending it as instructed by their Creator. The creatures of the air, land, and sea were thriving under Adam and Eve's care. Every single thing was as it was created to be.

But let me hit pause and back the story up a little bit here. At some point during creation (likely Day 3), the two pivotal trees to this story were made: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (along with all the other plants and trees; see Genesis 2:9). Both trees were rooted and established in the middle of the Garden of Eden, which meant they featured prominently in view. One promised life abundantly and eternally; the other promised an eye-opening experience of catastrophic proportions.

And each was yielding its respective fruit when that crafty serpent crossed Eve's path...

The cunning and shrewd serpent convinced Eve and then Adam that God wasn't who He is. They were persuaded to doubt God's goodness, faithfulness, love, and divine plan and place their trust in themselves. The serpent had them believe that they could be and do better than their Creator. And they believed having their eyes opened to the knowledge of good and evil and becoming like God would benefit them. Little did they actually know...

Genesis 3 encapsulates this incredible event in history, known as "The Fall", that would shape our world in unimaginable ways moving forward as well as the consequences that came about because of it.

In short, Adam and Eve trusted in themselves and chose to eat of the fruit of the tree that opened their eyes, which ultimately caused their downfall. What they didn't account for was that it would open their eyes to the harsh reality of sin's repercussions, including death, and a severely broken relationship with God and each other.

Which should serve as a stern warning to all of us regarding our relationship with Jesus and our growth and development emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

They were persuaded to doubt God's goodness, faithfulness, love, and divine plan and place their trust in themselves.

Right now, I'm at a crossroads in life career-wise.

I was laid off last year from my job as a medical transcriptionist for a large organization after 15+ years. As of writing this, I'm unemployed and weighing my options. The hardest part about being in this season of life? Trusting God. Why? Because my prideful and selfish desires are jockeying for control regarding the direction my life should go. In other words, trusting myself and my own instincts is very appealing to me presently. Having full control over my career moving forward sounds amazing! There are many choices out there for me regarding my career path and the skills needed for such that promise ample wisdom and knowledge, but those same choices run the risk of actually serving as a distraction from what God is calling me into and what He has planned for me, especially if they serve as rabbit trails and not part of the path God is leading me on.

Choices. Choices. Choices...

The hard truth is that I'm no better than Adam and Eve. Here I am several thousands of years after The Fall, wrestling with the same lies and toying with the same choices Eve faced when she heard the spiel from the serpent. "Did God really say...?", "I desire to be wise...", "This looks good. I should try that..."

I recognize I'm very vulnerable to the temptation to grow in wisdom and understanding that causes me to rely on myself instead of trusting in the One who made and sustains me. Just like Adam and Eve, I trust in the tree that opens my eyes and promises wisdom instead of God, and too often I wind up sinning against the holy and righteous God as a result. This stunts my growth, or, perhaps worse yet, it causes me to grow in ways that don't see me flourish in life.

I suspect the same is true for you, too, am I right?

Like trees, we may have the appearance of healthy growth, but truthfully we're sickly and withering. Our "tree/life rings" aren't actually strong and robust; they're truthfully weak and frail. And like the story of the fig tree that Jesus cursed (see Matthew 21:18-19), we appear as though we're flourishing and growing, but we're not bearing fruit at all, let alone good fruit.

If I want to flourish in life, I can't keep placing trust in myself and allow my eyes to be opened by the pursuit of the wrong things.

So what is the solution? The answer is surprisingly simple: Trusting God.

Trust doesn't require that I have all wisdom and understanding about everything in life. Trust doesn't require I know every single step in the process. Trust doesn't require me to know what it's like to be God to know He is good and faithful.

So then, what does trust require?

It requires me to trust in Him with all of my heart.

It requires me to not lean on my own understanding.

It requires me to acknowledge Him in all of my ways.

It requires me to accept He will make my paths straight.

Still, for me, and I suspect for you, too, the business of trusting God is a very hard business to invest in. It requires a lot of surrender, a lot of prayer, a lot of time spent in His Word, a lot of worship, and a lot of, well... trust. Can you relate?

Trust doesn't require me to know what it's like to be God to know He is good and faithful.

While Proverbs 3:5-6 are well-known verses in the Bible (as most believers can recite them by heart), verses 7 and 8 provide surprising antidotal prescriptions to the very notions that brought The Fall about in the first place.

"Be not wise in your own eyes..."

We are very prone to prideful belief and trust in our own wisdom instead of God's wisdom, which can teeter on the edge of thinking we make better gods than God Himself. We have the audacity to think sometimes if our "eyes are opened" through the wealth of knowledge and understanding available to us that perhaps we won't need God, or need Him as much anyway (and perhaps we even dare to believe we can school Him in the area of wisdom, too). We then rely far too much on ourselves and lean too much on our own understanding and push God away.

This is exact thing Adam and Eve fell for, and we still keep repeating it even now!

That is, unless we choose to not be wise in our own eyes and acknowledge that God's wisdom far surpasses any we can ever attain or possess. God will happily grant us His wisdom if we simply ask (Proverbs 2:6; James 1:5; James 3:17), but we have to humble ourselves, submit to Him, and surrender and trust Him.

"Fear the Lord..."

Fearing the Lord means honouring, revering, and respecting Him and His ways. Our sinful selves, though, would much prefer He do the same to us instead. We think He should bow to us and not the other way around! But, again, this lack of fear of the Lord is what caused pride and selfishness to seep into Adam and Eve's hearts and minds, which propelled them into choosing to take of the fruit of Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So we must continually fall at the feet of our Creator, who has plans beyond our wisdom too wonderful to comprehend (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

"And turn away from evil..."

This one sounds easy, but if the two concepts above are not followed, then turning from evil will be extremely hard to do. If we become wise in our own eyes and don't fear the Lord, we may wind up running towards evil instead of turning away from it!

So how do we avoid this? Below is the answer, both at a personal level and at a collective level:

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

(2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)

Trust in the Lord. Lean not on our own understanding. Humble ourselves. Pray and seek His face. Turn away from evil and turn from our wicked ways. It will be healing to our flesh and refreshment for our bones. He will hear from heaven and forgive our sin.

What an amazing promise! We can experience both immeasurable and measurable growth by God's standards if we simply trust Him and not rely on ourselves.

I'm sure it's safe to say that we have all experienced "the tree that opened our eyes" in some fashion, but let's resolve to seek God and trust Him moving forward. I pray we will humble ourselves to allow Jesus to lead and guide us as we step into the Father's will for our lives. He who promised is faithful! And as Philippians 1:6 states, He who began a good work in you and me will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ!

We can experience both immeasurable and measurable growth by God's standards if we simply trust Him and not rely on ourselves.

Now it's your turn! Have you experienced growth that promised to be beneficial but ultimately wasn't? How have you turned back to God and trusted Him as a result? Comment below!

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This blog is where you and I will explore what trees and their characteristics reveal about God, humanity, and life. I pray that as you join me here you will see the measurable growth in your own life and see God's loving kindness and faithfulness in all of it.

In the meantime, check out Kelly Polhamus' blog, "Whispers in the Wilderness," and Liz Trickey's blog, "God of My Depths," for more insight into how nature reveals God's character in and to us.