The first sin and the fall of mankind into a need for salvation from death came very soon after the new couple were placed in the perfect garden that He had made for them. What happened? What was the cause? Who did the sin?
I wonder how long it took for the disobedience to set in? I really think it was within the very first moments of their touring the Garden of Eden that this folly occurred. The reason I think this is, a perfect man and a perfect woman naked together in a perfect place would quickly lead to conception. But they would not conceive until after they have been removed from the garden. I don’t think they wasted any time in going to see this tree from which they were not supposed to eat from. This perfection was doomed before it even got started! But why?
I am convinced that the first disobedience toward God hinges from DISCONTENTMENT! They had it all, well almost, but they were not content with almost all. We find ourselves in the very same condition today. Nothing has changed, discontentment drives our lives. It causes us great misery each day, it causes us to sin each day. Just take a look around. We are not satisfied with the home we live in. The brother-in-law has a much bigger, newer place. His furniture is really nice, they never drive a car more than two years old. I’d like to do the same. The debt we carry says it all.
God had given Adam and Eve everything they could ever need. All the food they could eat, a perfect climate that never changed, companionship, face to face communication with God Himself. Wow! But, they weren’t content. We can see this when Eve was questioned by the serpent. He asked the question that was on her mind. Her answer to him was very interesting. “God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Did God say that? No, He said don’t eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. She had already embellished what God had said. Isn’t that what we do as well. As we work things over in our minds that we see and encounter with our friends and family we make situations much bigger than they are. You see things have not changed with mankind. We are still not content with the life and possession that God has so graciously given us.
Because of our discontentment we still risk it all. We get our minds working in overtime to get the things we desire, even it they are out of our reach. Our discontentment is what still tears our lives away from God. We are so caught up in discontentment that we forget that He is there. You see, God was there when they ate that forbidden fruit. He is everywhere! He is not surprised by anything. He knows it all. Just as discontentment drove Adam, Eve, and all the rest of us into the problems of sin and death, discontentment drives us into problems of sin, and death.
Discontentment has forever changed the earth and all it’s inhabitants. What are we to do with it?