I simply cannot stop thinking about everything that the events in the Garden of Eden mean.
The Garden tells us a ton about the heart of God, and the love that He has for His kids.
The story of the Garden is one place we can find tremendous blessing and incredible hope in the midst of the shambles.
It is in the midst of the wreckage of humanity, in the moments before and after Eve takes the forbidden fruit and takes the bite that alters the course of history, that we find incredible lessons of the goodness and faithfulness of God.
Many subjects could be talked about, but for now, I will simply talk about: Forgiveness.
After Eve takes the bite, after she says "NO" to her Lover and says "YES" to her deceiver, we learn much about the heart of God.
We vividly see the forgiving heart of God.
Immediately after Eve sins, God comes looking for His children.
Of course He knew what they had done, but He came looking for them.
What did they do? They heard Him coming...and they hid.
They hid.
We do that too don't we?
When we hurt someone, we want to hide.
When we sin against God, we hide. But hiding doesn't heal broken relationships.
We then see the exchange between God and man.
We see the pronouncement of cursing...and blessing. (there is a TON that goes into this)
What we don't see is God violently angry at His children. He passes judgment, strong judgment, but He shows forgiveness and love.
In the very middle of this exchange, we see a huge "Garden moment."
God asks, "who told you? what have you done?"
Of course He already knows the answer...but it's almost as if He is wanting them to see HOW they fell.
Very simple - when Adam and Eve listened to a voice other than God's, they fell.
When they failed to do EXACTLY as He said, They rationalized Truth away, and fell.
Don't we do that all the time?
The voice of the world is loud, and we too often listen to the world.
Like Eve, we listen to the voice that says "did God really say?" and we eat the forbidden fruit.
because of this, many things are broken. We are fallen! We are messed up!
And then we hide...
And Jesus passionately pursues us and forgives us.
And it's this forgiveness that changes everything.
God sent His only Son to earth to die and rise again, because He has forgiven His children.
For all of us that have been gloriously called into His family, He has forgiven us in a way that is beautiful.
For everyone else...His judgment is sure. Turn to Jesus.
One of the most beautiful lines in scripture comes in Genesis 5:22 - "Enoch walked with God."
After everything that happened...after the relationship was broken in the Garden...the promise of relationship still remains.
It was as if God was promising: Men will still walk with God.
Are you hiding today?
What are you hiding from?
Is there someone you need to forgive?
Is there someone who needs your forgiveness?
Is there someone who needs you to love them again?
What needs to be made right?
Forgiveness changes everything.
The love of Jesus is our ultimate hope.
There is no place for dis-unity in the Body of Christ...may we be people quick to forgive and quick to love.
This is one of the hardest things for us to do...because it means we have to die to our own desires and choose to walk like Jesus.
How many times am I supposed to forgive?
"Jesus replied: Seventy times seven."
I have been thinking about the fall a lot too lately but in a little different light, but on the same thought process. God has a will for your lives. Now what does that mean? does that mean he controls us? well that can be because we have free will. so what does the will of God mean and how do we come into it. God's will for us, as i understand it at this point in my life, is to love, to be like him, to have a character like his and to be in complete community with him and his creation. With the fall we choose from our free will, we choose to follow OUR will for OUR lives believing that our way is better. boy were we wrong. But oh how God loves and pursues his people, his love for us is strong and he wants nothing more than for us to be what he made us to be. In the end God's will will be the only one standing. Love, community, forgiveness, grace, Joy, peace, GOD will and has won. So what do we choose? do we continue to follow our plans our desires our will for our lives, or do we give our hearts to God and say, Jesus this life is yours, my YOUR WILL BE DONE IN MY LIFE as it will be done in all creation. Jesus make me who you created me to be. I don't completely understand this whole thing, But I know that the Cross is my salvation and it is the only way that I can be who I was meant to be.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts Austin!
-Maggie.