I am continuing my journey in Genesis chapter 3: verses 1-24, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman He said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. " Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.
I have read this passage many times and this is the 1st time I realized that Adam was RIGHT THERE WITH EVE when she was being tempted by Satan and Adam never intervened. He just let Eve disobey God and then followed suit. It was woman who was tempted and deceived and gave into the temptation of the eye and it was man who followed woman. There is a lesson in this trend of events. Women respond to the lusts of the eyes and men follow the lusts of their loins. In each situation the lust is greater than reason. They both knew what God said but allowed their lusts to over power obedience. A good take home message. When we are tempted through our lusts, we need only to turn to God through obedience and the lust will be conquered. Lust cannot be conquered by reasoning. Only obedience.
The next striking thing is that the consequence of disobedience is SHAME. Both Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness and sought to cover themselves. They had lost their innocence. Babies neither care if they are clothed or not because they don't know that not being clothed caries a stigmata. They are innocent. God's response to Adam's loss of innocence is to ask "Where are you?" God was really asking Man--now that you have disobeyed me "where are you?" which is the question that continues to be asked of us by God. Where are you (man) as you live in disobedience. We are lost and ashamed. God's immediate response was to "clothe" Adam and Eve because God still loved them and wanted to ensure that they understood this love even though they disobeyed Him. God has not changed through the ages --...it is while we are yet sinners that Christ died for us". God loves us even when we don't recognize Him as out creator. He loves us even when we disobey Him; He loves us even when we don't acknowledge Him as our Creator and Father. He is LOVE and will always reflect this LOVE regardless of the circumstances.
I was also struck that when He asked Eve and Adam IF they disobeyed Him, instead of saying "YES" they each sought to blame someone other than themselves. With Knowledge comes the inability to accepted blame. I see this in myself and others. When asked a simple yes or no question, the sin in us will always seek a reason why we sinned. If we are honest we sin because we are disobedient--plain and simple AND it would be much better for us to acknowledge our sin and then get right with God instead of rationalizing our behavior. Just come clean and accept the forgiveness that comes through Christ. God's love has never changed. He cannot be in the presence of sin and therefore when we feel "abandoned" we really only need to accept he forgiveness of God through Christ so that we can be in His presence again.
As God is asking you today "where are you" instead of hiding, heed His still small voice and say "here am I Lord I claim the blood of Jesus. Cloak me with the sacrifice of Christ so that I can see your face and bask in your love.
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Stephanie
