The Tree of Knowledge

When bad things happen, everyone asks – why would God do this? Why would a loving Father allow believers to suffer? Why would He let innocent little children die painful deaths?

People search all over the Bible for answers to those questions, and they sometimes find good ones. I’ve asked God all those things – and more – as I struggled with pain and a list of other maladies over the past eleven months. And I’ve found some answers in the Bible, too. But way back in the second chapter of the first book of the Bible is the answer which works best for me.

Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. He told him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.” (Genesis 2:15-17, Good News Translation)

Maybe we just aren’t supposed to know why things happen. Maybe if we knew the answers to those questions, we wouldn’t be able to handle it. Maybe we just need to trust God that He knows what He’s doing. He has knowledge and that needs to be enough for us.