First Adam and Eve
Now consequently we
Have seen Gods face
Yet turn away
First Adam and Eve
Now consequently we
Have craved His wisdom
Yet consume our evil
First Adam and Eve
Now consequently we
Have walked hand in His hand
Yet are now hiding in the trees.
"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?”
It isn’t just good, pretty fruit that the serpent used for the fall of mankind, but the real element of temptation is wisdom. The fruit from this tree held knowledge of good and evil. Now think about it Eve only knew of goodness. She could not have known what evil would bring. Wisdom was something that God had, that she didn’t and that was held within the piece of fruit. God’s warnings were now being surpassed by her desire for a bite of enhanced fruit.
Adam heard the same sales pitch that Eve received. He saw that this knowledge of good and evil was something that God and now Eve both had and now he was going to possess the same knowledge. However this new knowledge did not bring them closer to God.
We tend to struggle with very similar desires in our lives. In America we spend thousands of dollars on food, we buy countless products to attain beauty, and spend years of schooling to gain knowledge.
It is very easy for these desires of our lives to become the focus of our lives. It might not even be our initial desire but the fruit of our desires that takes over. Then when we ask “where are we?” we find that we are in a mess.
Their eyes were open to evil, their first experience of this would be in the fact they realized their nakedness. Evil was added into their sight, they could no longer view each other as just Adam and Eve, now they view each other’s naked bodies.
Paul Kissling, a commentator on the book of Genesis, puts it this way. “the first result is the distorted way in which they begin to look at themselves and each other. Gone is the transparency which knew no shame.” There was now a barrier between man and his wife.
It is also important to notice their new reliance to provide for themselves. Before, God had taken care of their every need. Now they resorted to hiding their need and coming up with a less than adequate solution for the new found shame.
So often in life we try to fix our problems on our own. But how does that work out for us? Let me ask this. When we find ourselves in trouble will it become our focus to fix it ourselves? Adam and Eve tried that but ended up finding themselves hiding in the trees.
Their relationship with God now amounted to hiding from Him in the trees.
They went from being drawn towards God’s physical presence in the garden to hiding from it. Now I know that we don‘t read in other places about God walking through the garden but the text doesn’t make a big deal about God walking into the presence of humanity. It wasn’t because they had never strolled with God, but they had never confessed a mistake. This time they did not embrace the fellowship they had with their creator but resorted to hide in the trees.
And don’t we do the same thing?
When we have failed, when our desires and focus have become centered around ourselves don’t we draw away from God? Are we hiding in the trees?
So here is my question when we have pursued selfish desires, focused all our time and energy on ourselves, and have found ourselves alone in the midst of broken relationships, where is God? When we are hiding behind the trees of our lives, where is He?
You see the story doesn’t end with vs. 8. Adam and Eve don’t go on living in trees. Because God called Where are you? He did not just pop in on Adam in the midst of the sin or appear in the tree where they were hiding. He called out Where are you? They weren’t enjoying the presence of God but hiding. He gave them a chance to come to Him while He was searching for them. He did not stay on His thrown and demand for them to fess up to their mistakes. He walked through the garden calling out to His dearly loved children. Where are you? Showing His love through His search. And the cycle continues. God doesn’t treat humanity like a tv show. He calls out Where are you? We hear Him throughout history Where are you? When Hagar is out in the desert, he calls Where are you?
Even when we ask “where are we?” and we find that we are not in God’s goodness, He still seeks us out.
Think of two candles, one being God and one being yourself. You can move your candle wherever you want depending on your screw ups and accomplishments. God, his candle, sits in the middle of perfection. We feel like we can always see God and we want to get closer to Him but sometimes our hearts can’t reach the distance to be in the light of God’s presence. We become weighed down by our earthly desires, our focus shifts to our desires or it is wrapped up in trying to fix our own problems. We are so afraid of His disappointment that we hide, too scared to run to His light. But are we thinking about this the right way. Is God just sitting in the middle of perfection waiting for us to do everything on our own and join Him. No. Vs. 9 says God CALLED OUT “Where are you?” Here is the key, it doesn’t matter what we have done, God is searching for us. He is calling for us to embrace His presence. His light is always right there next to us. We need to come out of the trees and embrace His light. Where are you? He is waiting and searching Where are you? He is loving us even though we are too scared to cling to Him. No matter what we do, He is searching for us. So where are you going to be? Once we have messed up are we going to stay in hiding? Are you going to ignore the voice calling out to your heart Where are you? Are you going to stay blind to his light? He shows His love by calling out Where are you? Are you going to return the love by stepping out from hiding behind your trees and saying Here I am.
Loving You,
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment