January 11, 2026

Remember all the trees in the garden? Remember the off-limits tree? Remember God’s command to Adam? “You can eat of every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Remember the warning? “For if you eat of that tree you shall surely die” (see Gen. 2:16–17) This special tree was a testing tree. God put it in the garden to see if Adam and Eve would obey and trust him to tell them right from wrong. But did Adam and Eve listen to God? No. They listened to Satan. One day Satan, in the form of a snake, slithered into the garden. Adam and Eve were not afraid of snakes because all of God’s creatures were created good. Adam named a snake “snake,” just like he named a dog “dog,” a beaver “beaver,” and a Rasberry crazy ant, well, “Rasberry crazy ant.” That’s a real bug! The snake slithered around Eve. He wanted to trick and deceive her. He asked,
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” She replied, “We may eat of the fruit of all the trees except the tree in the middle. Because if you even touch that tree you will die” (see Gen. 3:2–3). The snake hissed, then laughed. “Ha!” He said, “You won’t die. God just wants to keep good things from you!” But is that true? Did God lie? She looked at the tree. She was tempted. Tricked.
Adam was too. In fact, he was there with her. He should have said, “Stop, Eve! Trust God.” But he said nothing. He wanted knowledge like only God had. He wanted to be more than God’s image bearer. He wanted to be God. He had believed Satan’s lie. The fruit looked so beautiful and so good. Too good not to touch, taste, and eat. Eve grabbed the fruit from the off-limits tree. She bit it. She gave Adam a bite too. They had disobeyed God’s one command. Right away, Adam knew it. Eve knew it. God knew it. God sent them out of the garden. And he cursed his perfect world. The ground would be hard. Work would be hard. Marriage would be hard. Having babies would be hard. And death would soon come to everyone. It was a very bad day.