When my daughter was 14 she decided to make Rice Krispies® Treats.  I told her to wait till I finished something and then I would help her make the tasty treats. She was making them for the first time. But my daughter, knowing everything there was to know about life and cooking, decided she could do it herself.

She dumped a box of Rice Krispies® into a pot on the stove and turned up the heat. Then she poured in the marshmallows. I walked into the kitchen and,

Of course I knew exactly what she was doing. She was ruining our Rice Krispies® and scorching a good cooking pot. But I wanted her to understand she disobeyed me and ruined desert for the family in the process.

I wonder if God felt as exasperated with Adam in the Garden as I did with my daughter that day? God witnessed Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden when He asked Adam, “Where are you?” God knew exactly where Adam was. God was always in Adam and Eve’s presence. God wanted Adam to understand exactly where He was–in Paradise. In God’s perfect garden where Adam and Eve COULD HAVE enjoyed peace with God. They COULD HAVE lived in God’s presence with all their needs met forever. Instead Adam ruined Paradise for God’s entire family he decided to do things his own way.

My daughter could have enjoyed the sumptuous, gooey treats we had planned for desert that night, if she had listened to her father. But she ruined desert for our family because she decided to do things her own way.

None of us can fathom how our lives would be different today if Adam and Eve had just listened to their Father in the Garden of Eden.