Discontentment in Paradise

Wednesday, November 27, 2019 Submitted by Lara Cook

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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

Adam and Eve were in literal paradise. The Garden of Eden was lush and green and covered with beautiful plants and it contained everything they would ever need.  God had given them this amazing place to live – paradise on earth.  Everything in the garden was for them – except for one tree. God told them not to eat the fruit from one tree, but every other thing in the garden was theirs. 

Why talk about this story at Thanksgiving?  Because our human nature is to want more and to be ungrateful for what we have been given.  Adam and Eve were siting in paradise but where did they focus?  On the ONE thing they could not have.  Their lives couldn’t get any better, but Satan was able to get them to look away from the abundance of God’s gifts and look and the deprivation of one thing.  Satan will always try his best to get us to focus on what we don’t have, even if we have paradise in the palm of our hands, and he doesn’t have to try very hard.  We make it really easy for him.

The real fall in the Garden was discontentment with what God had given. They had a choice as we do, to choose contentment that only comes from God or to choose to find it in what is forbidden by God.  What Adam and Eve didn’t grasp was that God had forbidden that fruit for a reason and it was to protect them.  And God knew that to not choose Him would be to lose the goodness of the gift He had given them.  We become so blinded by our discontentment that we don’t see our blessings.  We become so deceived by Satan that we chase that contentment in what God forbids, and we end up more discontented than ever.  We lose our paradise.  All God has given is good and all that is against His word is not good.  He gave us the freedom to choose, just like He did Adam and Eve.  This Thanksgiving focus on the blessings around you and don’t be lured into focusing on what is not.    

Scripture to Claim:
Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20