Genesis 2:9 (NKJV)

‘And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’

What wonders we have in the garden of God. We have pleasant food and the tree of life. We can enjoy all the blessings of living in the center of God’s will, the splendor of living in the heart of the garden of God. Oh, thank you, Jesus, for bringing such blessedness to us. Such pleasantness. Such rest. Such fulfillment. Such godly enjoyments, delightful enjoyments provided by the bountifulness of a benevolent God. The spiritual man must not be afraid of enjoying these godly pleasures and enjoyments, for it is our Father’s good pleasure to grant them to us, within the garden of God.

But wait a minute; there’s also another tree in the same garden of pleasantness, a forbidden tree. Among the freedom to eat all the pleasantries of the garden, God clearly showed the negative implications of eating from one particular tree (verse 17). “O! Lord, but why spoil the beauty of this garden by placing something forbidden in it?” Well, it’s good to know that even in the center of God’s will for our lives, there is also the forbidden. We, therefore, must live life cautiously. Enjoy the blessings of God but with alertness to the forbidden that lingers not too far away from the permitted.

‘Lord, please open my eyes to see the forbidden even as I enjoy the permitted. Teach me to live cautiously and enjoy your blessings carefully, knowing that close to my point of highest permitted enjoyment may also be the closest point of death. Never let me enjoy anything to the point of becoming unguarded. This I ask in your name. Amen.’