you can't touch this

8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 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." - Genesis 1:8-9, 15-17

i knew that having a child would open my eyes to some things about God and his love for us and the other day my eyes were opened to something i had a hard time understanding.

my son is almost 11 months old now and very very active. he's in exploring mode and wants to touch everything, but he's smart enough to understand what the word "no" means when we don't want him to touch something. yesterday i had a bowl of soup and put in on the table next to me, just barely out of his reach and if he stretched enough he could pull the mat i put it on and pull it towards him. and sure enough he tried to touch it and i told him no. i had to tell him a few times and he still reached for it even after getting a smack on the hand a few times. nothing that stings, but just enough that he gets the idea. anyway it got me to thinking about how i couldn't understand why God would put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden and told adam and eve that was the one tree that they couldn't eat from. my thought was that He knew that they would want to and more than likely would end up eating from it. now i'm not saying adam and eve had the mentality of 11 month olds but yesterday it kind of hit me that when i say no to my son i expect him to obey. and when he doesn't do what i say it gets a little frustrating. i put the bowl there knowing he would reach for it but figured by telling him no he'd leave it alone. some times i can tell him no and he just moves on to the next thing, so i know he understands.

my point is that God wanted adam and eve to obey Him. was He testing them? i don't think so, not with such consequences. but i guess the one thing that i understand better is that it's obedience He wanted in that scenario. do i still understand why He put the tree there in the middle of the garden at all knowing what would happen? nope. but i guess it doesn't matter why He put it there, but what he expected.