Letting God Decide

In the second and third chapters of the book of Genesis, we find two trees mentioned: a "tree of life" and a "tree of the knowledge of good and evil."  Interestingly, we are told that God had planted a garden and stocked it with a wide variety of fruit bearing trees and gave his human creations permission to eat the fruit of every tree, with the notable exception of one. Indeed, we are told that God warned the first human: "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die." Unfortunately, most of us our familiar with the story about how the Serpent persuaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by suggesting that "your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” She, in turn, eventually persuaded her husband to join her in eating the fruit, and the rest is history. From God's perspective, the humans had been given the opportunity to choose to follow his instructions and freely partake of the fruit of the tree which represented life, but the humans unceremoniously declined his offer and chose another path.

Interestingly, this same theme is repeated over and over again throughout Scripture. In fact, in that same book (Genesis) we read that God promised great blessings to Abraham if he would only choose to follow God's instructions! Likewise, we are told that God presented the same offer to the Israelites. In the thirtieth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, we read: "Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" (Verses 15-19)

Moreover, as I mentioned in several of the posts which preceded this one, early Christians believed that people had a choice between two ways: The way through Jesus Christ which represented LIFE, and the way of sin against God which ended in DEATH. Indeed, in the gospel of John, the founder of their religion had proclaimed that he was "the way, the truth, and the life." Likewise, in the final book of the New Testament, Christians are contrasted with everyone else who has chosen this world's systems as influenced and deceived by that same old Serpent referenced back in the very first book of the Bible. Hence, we can see that this theme of choosing God's way and life or deciding to go one's own way and end up dead is something of a universal theme in the Bible.

At first glance, the choice seems stark and easy. We simply cannot fathom just how foolish Adam and Eve turned out to be - How could they have decided to reject God's way and the opportunity which that choice represented? However, if we take a little time to stand back and look at the situation, we must all inevitably come to the conclusion that each and every one of us has faced the exact same dilemma that Adam and Eve faced in the garden. In a real sense, each and every human who has ever lived must someday choose between life and death. We can drive in a direction of our own choice and making, OR in the words of an old Country tune, we can let "Jesus take the wheel."

At some point, we begin to understand that we must surrender our choices to God - to let him "take the wheel" and direct our path. Over time, we see how many of our own choices have turned to ashes in our hands and led us (and/or those we care about) to disaster and/or sorrow. In one of my comments on another blog, I recently quoted a pertinent observation on this subject by the famous fantasy novelist, J.R.R. Tolkien. He wrote: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." Only God is omniscient. Only God has the necessary foresight to see the possible consequences of some action. In the book of Proverbs, we read: "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death." (Proverbs 14:12)

Jesus instructed his disciples not to obsess and worry about what was around the next curve or behind the next door. He pointed out how little real foresight or control that they had at their disposal, which made all of their worrying wasted effort. And, finally, one of his disciples, a man named James (perhaps his own brother) once wrote: "Look here, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.' How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, 'If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.' Otherwise, you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16)

The book of Hebrews talks about a Sabbath rest for Christians - a rest from our own ways. Maybe it's time for all of us to let "Jesus take the wheel." Maybe it's time to choose God's way (LOVE) and let go of our own choices and decisions. What do you think?