Have you ever stopped to consider all the things you’re able to do by driving a car? This may seem like a silly experiment, but let’s try it for just a moment. Take a quick inventory of all the things you’re able to accomplish through driving a car or traveling by car.
For me, each day I drive to work in the morning and back home in the afternoon – both signs of provision and comfort in my life. I drive to my parents’ house to enjoy time with family. Many times, my car has been filled with nieces and nephews, friends and coworkers, and even my two dogs. I drive to dinner with friends. I drive to church to worship the Lord and serve. I drive on trips to National Parks with my husband, seeing some of the most beautiful places in our country. I drive to the movies, to the grocery store, and to so many other things.
But the only way those things can take place in my life is because there are laws in place that make driving possible in a busy and congested world. Every stop light, speed limit, and driving rule has been put in place so that the largest number of people possible can engage in everyday activities with the highest amount of freedom and safety possible.
Without driving laws, it would be nearly impossible to experience all the things I listed above. Ironically, when I was 16 years old and working to obtain my driver’s license, the last thing I wanted to do was learn the rules of the road. Now as an adult, I realize how these rules are not as restrictive as I thought they were. In fact, these rules allow me to experience more freedom in a safe and life-giving way.
Entrusted with Freedom
When God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden to take care of it, he also gave him one simple rule: don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we were to read this with a perspective that the Christian life is legalistic and God is just waiting around the corner, ready to catch us doing something wrong, then we’ll inevitably read Genesis 2:16-17 as restrictive. We’ll think of our relationship with God as a rule-following way of earning His favor.
But this is not God’s heart toward us. He even tells us in Exodus 34:6 that He is a merciful God, as well as gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. If we take God at his word as we read Genesis 2:16-17, what we’ll see is a God who has entrusted Adam with the entire Garden of Eden and has freely given him every fruit-bearing plant to enjoy. God’s one command to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is simply a stop light, a speed limit, a rule of the road to help Adam enjoy the garden that was entrusted to him in the most life-giving way possible.
God is gracious in both the freedom He offers and the boundaries He sets in place for us for our flourishing. One aspect of the graciousness of God is that He entrusted Adam with the garden, placing him there to enjoy it and cultivate it. Another aspect of the graciousness of God is that He gave Adam a command. Even though the command might appear to be restrictive in nature, it was really God’s way of protecting Adam and offering him a way to experience the garden in the most abundant way.
Gracious Commands
We’ve all been graciously entrusted with our lives by God. Like drivers on the road (and like Adam in the garden), we have the freedom to take our lives in many different directions and experience many different things. But just like a driver needs rules to safely and effectively navigate to all of life’s experiences, we too are given the commands of God so that we don’t haphazardly harm ourselves and others in the midst of our freedom.
As sinners who often break these rules of engagement, there’s no way we could ever save ourselves. Thankfully, God in His grace and mercy has given us His salvation through Jesus (Eph. 2:4-6) and has gifted us a new heart that seeks to obey His commands through the help of the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:26-28). With new hearts, the commands of God don’t seem so restrictive and legalistic anymore. Instead, we are able to see them rightly as God’s provision for us to enjoy life abundantly. Once this happens, His greatest commandment to love Him and love others becomes our greatest joy and freedom as we walk in obedience toward Him.
