Which One First?

My mother used to tell the story of some sibling who listened to part of what their mother said (which was “Do not put beans in your nose.”) and as soon parents left, began sticking beans in his nose.  The doctor was able to remove them all (we think.)

I was reminded of this when my Second Great-GrandDaughter was at the lake with her grandmother and some teenagers.  Everyone was chatting over a project, no one noticing more than Second GGD was tearing tissues into strips.  Not until the pastor’s wife said, “No, no, Sariah!”  They were carefully removing strips when she sneezed and yuckily removed them all (we think.)

Sometimes we forget the “Don’t,” and get our instructions out of order, at the least.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28 KJV)

What a nice directive.  An ecologist’s dream – fresh new earth, fully stocked with fish in the sea, fowls in the air and living things moving upon the earth.  All Adam and Eve had to do was be fruitful and multiply, using all the raw materials at hand, and having enough time to walk in the cool of the evening with their Lord. Truly Paradise.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30 KJV)

Later on God gave them an additional command:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17 KJV)

They had not been fruitful before Eve messed up on that second directive.  There were no children to blame, though Adam tried his best to blame Eve:

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:12 KJV)

What has God told us to do?  What has God told you, specifically, to do? Are there “Don’t” commands where we’ve dropped that word and proceeded to the equivalent of putting beans in our noses?  How about a quick check of the priorities God has given us.  A little paying of close attention to His word?