The Importance of Following God's Path For Your Life

Introduction: Coveting Association

In Genesis 2:18, Moses made a very astounding statement. He stated, “It is not good that the man [human] is alone...” For so long, I have always thought of this to be a reference to male having a need for a female. And surely that is the point that Moses ultimately makes. However, this is not the only point Moses is making. While in the garden, there was nothing that corresponded to Adam. The existing creatures were incompatible. They could not relate to Adam and were incapable of forming the sort of relationships are needed to bring about purpose and fulfillment.

Ironically, the garden or paradise is still yet a place of loneliness and vanity, unless there’s someone of similar likeness to build relationships with. These relationships are intended to be a meaningful and purposeful way of accomplishing something, namely that which God has ordained in His divine plan.

So, God creates the woman, who is the corresponding creature that will not only bring, but more importantly, purpose. By the relationship of two humans, will the garden be the best it has ever been. At least, this is God’s design from the beginning.

Association is the term I want to employ to what happened in the garden. Humans have a need to be associated with others. Association is important, because association births privilege. In the garden, two humans not only built a relationship, but they built an association that distinguished them from all other creatures. This was God’s plan!

Psalm 8:2-9 reads, “2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!”

When Adam and Eve were seen in the garden, they were seen as unique figures and members of a particular group that were even distinguished from other humans. They were a part of the garden family. They were were the ones that lived in paradise.

Yet, what gave them this distinction? Was it material good? Was it their stellar looks? Was it their elite class or acquired wealth?

No, it was the fact that God gave them a unique purpose, which could not be accomplished without one another. This association gave them the right to exercise authority and accomplish things that others would not accomplish.

The struggle, however, is assessing the things of God as more valuable than the supposed privileges of this world. This is where man, even Adam, gets into trouble. It is the plight of man—to associate with things out of a desire for privilege and pleasure rather than suffering through the struggle of purpose, which leads to eternal life.

When I read the story of Moses in Hebrews 11:24-28, I see another story of association. Just like their was an association formed int he garden between Adam and Eve, there’s an association existing in Exodus 2. This association is between the people of God and the Egyptian Empire. And Moses’s handling of this opportunity to associate with the Egyptian Empire will determine the path that Moses takes for his life.

Moses and the Decision to Take a Different Path

George McDonald once wrote a poem about obeying God. It reads,

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6125 The Path I Feared

I said, “Let me walk in the field.”

He said, “No; walk in the town.”

I said, “There are no flowers there.”

He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,

There is nothing but noise and din.”

And He wept as He sent me back.

“There is more,” He said, “there is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick

And fogs are veiling the sun.”

He answered, “Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say.”

He answered, “Choose tonight

If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said, “Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem hard in Heaven

To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

I said: “My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light Divine,

The path I had feared to see.

All of us face this temptation of choosing flowers over a crown. We face it today, and Moses faced it while in Egypt. The enemy presents two paths to us. One is filled with supposed luxuries and pleasures. The other is obviously filled with difficulties and struggles. Yet, what we cannot see is the crown that is hidden among the thorns.

So, in a moment of vulnerability, we are enticed to choose the