The Avenue of Righteousness

     What does it take to get you and me to act right?  What will it take for us to change lanes and be in the lane that will help us to arrive at God's desired destination?  Well, it isn’t too often that we sit back and ponder these matters.  Therefore, it will take intentional efforts to bring us to places where we learn more about ourselves.  In the midst of the Garden of Eden, God placed a forbidden tree.  In the midst of paradise, an identified and known “booby trap” is allowed to exist.  The Oxford Dictionary defines a “booby trap” as an apparently harmless object that contains a concealed explosive device designed to kill or injure anyone who touches it.  Now, there are so many lessons to learn from the Garden of Eden, but let’s look at this one.   The first thing one may ask is why would such a lovely garden created by such an awesome Godhead contain such a tree.  What in the world was God’s purpose for designing or allowing this tree to bear such fruit in His garden?

      God being who He is, the omniscient One, knows the heart of man and what it will take to show man his need of obedience to God. Without the ability to compare, and or differentiate, there is no way to understand or identify what is righteous, what is expedient, what is good.  There must be a standard identified.  Our God does this with the forbidden tree, or fruit in the Garden of Eden.  God made Adam aware of His goodness in the garden but was careful to reveal what he should not touch.  God was also careful and diligent in sharing the consequences that would follow if Adam failed to heed the limits set.  Nothing has changed.

      God desires obedience in His relationship with us.  He desires that we learn, know, and understand just how important it is to only be confident in our walk when we are walking and aligning with Him and what He says in the Holy Scriptures.  Walking within the limits that He has set keeps us safe from the craftiness of the enemy, the evil one.  The Lord lets us know that if we take heed and listen to the wrong god (“and know there is a difference in gods!”), we shall surely die.  Here lies the key to life:  With the Holy and Righteous God of the Bible, there is life, light, and goodness; with the evil one, there is death, darkness, and destruction.
 
PRAYER:  Lord, we thank you for the ability to know that You are Good and Righteous unto Yourself.  There is none Holier than You.  You knew all along that our hearts would take us to harmful places where You are not glorified and Your principles are not honored.  Thank You for loving us so that once we have identified with Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are Yours, and You will not let us go from Your presence.  We know conviction by the Holy Spirit and how You arrange  situations in our lives that cause us to run back to You with the confession of our sin;  and once we realign ourselves with Your truth, we can be restored, delivered, set free, embrace life again.  Thank You!!  For we want the avenue of righteousness.  In Jesus’ Name-Amen.
by Lisa Williams