“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

Acts 17:26  

Rules. Rules. Rules. Who wants rules?! But rules really aren’t all bad. Think of Henry Ford when he invented the Model T in 1908. Once he had his first car up and running he had to figure out how to keep it running, how to repair it when it broke down, how to manufacture more of these classics. In other words, he needed rules.

He who is in control, then, needs to make rules. Creator God did that in the beginning. He deemed it necessary to make only one rule at that time: “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). After all, He had breathed His own divine image into His finest creation, man. Surely man would get it. With all the other trees to eat from in the garden, including the fruit of the tree of life (Genesis 2:9) that would sustain him for eternity, why would he ever want a knowledge of evil and death.         

It seems the serpent’s temptation was one of control: you will be like God (Genesis 3:5). And Adam and Eve fell for it. God’s rule was for their own good. God’s rules are always for good; we just don’t have the big picture. What seems to be spinning out of control may be for someone else’s good. Or it may just be a consequence of that original sin which continues to perpetuate itself. 

And so God makes the rules and we do not. Tell that to the world though, which is definitely spinning out of control. Truth is, we who know the God who made the world and everything in it, just need to stick to the rules of He who set us in this time and place. They are as simple as: love God, love your neighbor, not my will but God’s. Job had no idea the source of his agony. Jesus did, yet He trusted the Father for the big picture. One day we will see it as it really is. 

Nancy P