Praying the Promises of Jesus by Rick Stedman

Author:Rick Stedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736960724
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

9

Friday: I’m Finding Freedom

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN1

Let’s start with a quick Bible quiz:

What are the first words in the Bible that God spoke to Adam?

1. Hi Adam. This is God speaking.

2. Take care of my garden.

3. Be fruitful and multiply.

4. She’s pretty neat, isn’t she?

5. It’s not good to be alone.

6. None of the above.

If you chose number six, you are correct. The first three words spoken by God to Adam were: “You are free” (Genesis 2:16).2

For me, this fact is astounding and unexpected. God’s first words to humans in the Bible were not, “Welcome to the world,” “I love you,” or “You must obey me.” They also weren’t, “You must worship me” or “You need to attend church once a week.” Instead, God’s initial words were, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.”

This is more than a mere explanation of the garden menu—this is a declaration from the very beginning that humans have free will. We are not biological automatons or robots. Human choice is a real thing. Freedom was God’s original intention. Adam was, as the song goes, “Born Free” (just to be clear, I’m referring to the song by Andy Williams, not Kid Rock or M.I.A.).

Free Will Is Impossible Without Limits

Into this perfect paradise, God gave Adam only one limit. Jews have 613 laws to keep in the Torah, and Moses gave ten commandments in Exodus. But Adam had only one measly law to follow, and it wasn’t even a difficult one. If Adam were alive today, the modern-day equivalent might go something like this: “Adam, you can drive this Porsche as long as you want and anywhere you want. Plus, you can listen to any station on the radio. Except, that is, this one rule: you can’t listen to station XYZ.” And what does Adam do? He gets in the car and almost immediately, it seems, turns to station XYZ. It’s nuts.

Would you be so foolish? If someone said to you, “From now on, all of the entrées at your favorite restaurant will be free for you and your family. It’s all-you-can-eat, at no cost—forever. There’s only one catch: there is one item you can’t order. If you order that one forbidden entrée, you get nothing and you get kicked out of our restaurant forever.” Now think about it: great meals, for free and forever, or one meal and you are booted out. What would you do?

Why on earth did Adam and Eve choose the latter?

And why would God set up such a trivial condition? Has it ever seemed arbitrary to you that God would single out one tree, which was both beautiful to look at and good for food (Genesis 3:6)? It wasn’t poisonous or bad tasting; in fact, it was the opposite. Why that one tree?

Furthermore, why would God do this when he knew, in his divine foreknowledge, that they would fall? And what happened when Eve ate the fruit? Nothing physiologically occurred, or so it seems.

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