I watched as a young mother tried to get her 2-year-old child to make a choice. “You can have fish or chicken,” she told him. She limited his choice to just two because he was too young to understand beyond that. Choice often allows a wider variety of options, and it also must allow the person to reject the choices.

Adam and Eve were in the best possible environment. God had given them freedom to eat of all the trees in Eden. He drew the boundary lines around only one tree! They had a choice, and it should have been a no-brainer to choose wisely. But their choice was tragic.

Some blame God for what they see as His restrictions. They may even accuse Him of trying to control their lives. But God gives us a choice, just as He did Adam and Eve.

Yes, God draws boundary lines, but they are for our protection. David understood this. He wrote, “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies . . . . I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your Word” (Ps. 119:98-101).

God cares so much about us that He gives us boundary lines so that we will choose what is right.  — C. P. Hia