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And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:9

What I wanted to bring to your attention here is that both trees were in the midst (Hebrew meaning: the middle, the innermost room, interior court) of the garden.  They may have been side-by-side; and knowing the character of the Lord, this would not surprise me one bit.

Where is the innermost room of you and me?  Our heart.  1Corinthians 3:9 says that you are God’s husbandry.  A lot of translations translate it as “God’s field.”  But one translation translates it as, “you are God’s garden and vineyard” (Amplified).  So we can see that our hearts really are the garden of God.  He is cultivating them to gain one thing…fruit. 

And if we are God’s garden…which we are; then it stands to reason that there are two trees still in the midst of the garden.  The Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Because of verses found in Numbers, Ezekiel, John, and Revelation, we can gather that the Tree of Life was probably a Vine tree that bore grapes; and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was probably a Fig tree (Jer. 24:8).

At any given time, we are choosing to eat from one of the two trees in the midst of our garden.  And one of the ways to eat of the wrong tree is to seek knowledge in the wrong way.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that people question God on every front, and at every turn.

God gets blamed for everything.  I have heard certain ones make the comment, “God took my child” or “God allowed this to happen”, and even “How could God do this?” Wow…God sure gets blamed for everything bad in the world, doesn’t He?  These ones just do not know the word of God…for if they did, they would have read that God “is blameless in all HIs ways” – “Every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights…” – “The thief (Jesus calls satan a thief in Luke) comes to steal away the word…”. Hmmmm, that’s quite the contrast. So then Jesus came to give life – and not take it.  Oh how satan has done his job well.  He has pushed the blame off on the Lord…just as Adam did in the garden in the very beginning: “The woman THOU gavest me…”, and people just keep blaming Him. Oh how this grieves Him and hurts His feelings…to be blamed for rape, murder, kidnappings, lack, thefts, storms, etc., etc., etc.

The last time I checked…if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s probably a duck.  In other words…if there is murder, hate, rape, kidnappings, storms, sickness, etc., then it’s probably satan doing his job well.  If you read the book of Job very carefully, you will see that ALL THE THINGS that Job blamed God for were actually from the devil.  Every last single thing.  But when Job matured in his heart and in his mind, and when he saw God for who He really was, then all he could do was place his hand over his mouth and repent in sackcloth and ashes!!  People just need to see God as outlined in His Word, and they would never blame God again for anything bad, other than their own discipline (which is not bad at all according to Hebrews). 

These misinformed people are just continuing to perpetrate the lie…and satan laughs all the way to the spiritual bank.  For as long as they think and speak that God did it (as Job did in his ignorance), then they will never see the real enemy at work behind the curtain.  

Let’s quit blaming God and realize one thing: it’s our own fault for believing a lie and then choosing to remain ignorant of God’s Word.  All of these truths are in His Word…but until a person devotes his life to the study and the meditation of this Word…then I’m afraid they will just go through life defeated and believing a lie.  Even in a court of law, the real blame is laid upon the guilty party, not the witness who witnessed the crime or may have even been the victim of it.  

God has been the victim of a great atrocity…our believing and our speaking to others that He is to blame.  This then by default makes Him out to be a liar, a murderer, a thief, and someone who takes great joy in our suffering.  But Robert, how could you say such a thing?  If you are believing and blaming God for all the sorrow and woes in the world, and in your circumstances, then you are the one saying this!! Quit blaming God and begin laying the blame on the doorstep of him who is truly doing it…and then get mad at him and take care of business by speaking the Word of God to your circumstances, and taking your God-given authority in Christ over the devil.  The Word of God teaches that the Lord stripped satan of all power and all authority and took back both sets of keys from him.  All that he has is what he had in the very beginning…lies and deception.  he started off as a serpent (Gen.3:1), and he ends his career as a serpent (Rev. 20:2). And a serpent has what?  A crooked tongue. So then, quit believing his lies.

So when we try and figure everything out that we’re not supposed to (just as Eve wasn’t supposed to), then we are eating from the accursed tree.  And this tree only brings death.  People want to ask, “but why” – “but how come” – “I don’t understand” – etc.  These questions stem from the wrong tree.  Quit trying to figure things out in your head, and just trust God from the heart and you’ll be eating of the fruit from the Tree of Life.

It took me so many years to see this truth; but once I really saw it, I never blamed God again for anything that happens in the world.  Bad things are going to happen to good people.  Our spouses, children, and friends are going to die…it’s the way of life.  But God is not causing it; for He hates the coffin just as much as we do.

Satan comes in these times and tempts us to give up.  He says things like, “God didn’t come through for you” (like God is our divine butler to cater to our every wish and desire).  Or he’ll say to you, “Why did God allow this to happen to you, He could have stopped it?” Friends, we live in a fallen world, and  a lot of what happens to us is our reaping what we have sown anyways. So don’t believe satan for one moment…he’s a known liar!!!

God is a good God.  A real good God.  When Moses asked to see His glory, God said to him, “I will cause all of My goodness to pass before you.” God considered His goodness to be of more value than His own glory.  It’s true though…His goodness is everlasting.  Once you really see His goodness, you will have acquired a deep understanding as to who He really is.

This is what happened to Job.  He tried for 31 chapters to understand why bad things were happening to him.  Why did all of his children have to die?  What sin had he committed to bring this devastating sickness upon himself?  But in the end we see that God is just and blameless in all of His ways.  And it was at this moment that Job’s life was forever changed.  He saw God’s goodness, just as Moses had (technically Job saw it approx. 157 years before Moses did). 

You too can see the same goodness that they saw.  How?  By coming to really know Him through His Word (the Bible).  If you can see Christ, then you have seen the Father.  Read of Christ’s character in the gospels, and you will have seen the goodness of God in action.  He’s forgiving, merciful, tenderhearted, gracious, full of compassion, giver of all life, quick to pardon, and quick to bestow blessings, and He is most definitely very quick to heal.  He is soooooooo good…if you can only see it.

He’ll fix, redeem, repair, and restore any situation you’ve got yourself into, if you’ll just meet His conditions that He has set forth in His Word…which is simply turning from all sin and unrighteousness and believing what He has said in His Word.  This beautiful God that we serve is for us and not against us.  God bless you.