Walking in Obedience and Blessing

Genesis 2:15-17 reads, “The Lord God took the man and put

him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the

Lord God commanded the man “You are free to eat from any tree in

the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Now to chapter 3:1-6. “Now the serpent was more crafty than

any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the

woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the

garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the

trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the

tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or

you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the

woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be

opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the

woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing

to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and

ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he

ate it.”

I can’t imagine having God right in front of me commanding me

not to do something and then choosing to do it anyway. Yet the truth

is we do this exact thing every day. He may not be face to face with

us as He was with them, but we know what He’s telling us to do and

not to do, and a lot of times we willfully do the opposite. The

meaning of the word crafty in the dictionary is, “skillful in deceiving;

cunning.” Cunning means, “skill in deception.” These words are the

words used to describe who Satan is and his character, and that is

why we need to avoid him. Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience

the Lord put a curse on them, and He drove them out of the Garden

in verses 23-24.

So many things in our lives that are messed up are because of

our disobedience. We either flat out refuse to obey God or we let

disobedience in and blame it on others. Let’s take forgiveness for

example. Maybe we refuse to forgive because it was the other

person’s fault. We set our mind that we are not going to forgive until

they apologize. So, we then live in bitterness and disobedience.

Maybe our disobedience is regarding our children. We let things

“slide” because others are doing it, when we know we are to

discipline them and teach them the word of God, and to be an

example of biblical principles to them.

We can get so wrapped up in thinking we are a good person,

mother, wife, and we stop there. We don’t really live in total

obedience. In the life of Adam and Eve, their disobedience did not

just affect them, it affected everything from then on. They had

everything they could have ever wanted or needed, and one choice

changed the course of their lives, and ours as well.

When we live in obedience, even when it’s uncomfortable or

everyone thinks we’re crazy, we then receive the blessings from the

Lord. It’s not always going to be easy, but we must choose obedience

above anything, which is truly an act of worship unto God. In

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 the Bible lists what the blessings are, and in

chapter 30:1-10 we are reminded of what our rightful blessings are

from God.

We all will have trials in our lives from time to time. As God’s

children, when we’re obedient, we are under His protection of

blessings. For the most part obedience is easy, but there are times

when we’re deciding to do something we need to think, “does this

line up with the Word?” If it doesn’t, then we need to listen to God.

We need not worry about everyone else’s opinion regarding what we

should do because God’s opinion is the most important. Lastly, we

need to be in God’s word daily, spending time in prayer, and finding

out what He is saying to us and how we are to handle things. We

must know God, and His ways, so we can walk with Him in total

obedience and blessing.

What About You?

1. Why is it ultimately freeing to obey God and His ways?

2. How can you learn to be more obedient?

From God's Garden Tools by Gina Burns