Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.' " 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Reflection - I took the bait and ate
It seems we all want to be like God in some way or another. God created us and told us not to do one thing. And this one thing we could not do. Only because of our selfish desire to be like God and to know good and evil. If God wanted us to know good and evil, then God would have created us for this reason. But why put the tree in the garden in the first place if we were only going to be tempted by the tree?
The serpent, never referred to as the devil, by the way, came along and instead of following the advice of God, yes the command of God, we fall to the temptation learning something new that would make us more life God... so we think at the time. So we eat of the tree. We eat... not just the woman first and the man second... but we... both the man and the woman... took the temptation to eat the fruit and ate the fruit. And it seems our eyes were now open to evil.
What a tragic occurrence of events. In our effort to be like God, we lost the innocence that God had created for us to be and now know evil. What an awful thing to happen to us and to the God that created us. We took on characteristics from our own God given ability to choose... and now know evil. And we now know that we are naked before God in our evil and can be seen from anywhere... so we try to cover up... more evil upon the first evil.
We cover up and hide from God. We are guilty ourselves and before God. We are guilty of trying to get to the tree of life ourselves by going through and eating of the tree of knowledge. How foolish we have been. This I say in retrospect and in the accusation of my current life and state of sinfulness. How foolish I am!
Sure, I can blame the serpent. The serpent, an agent of Satan, but not Satan, put this idea in my head that I can be like God. The serpent tempted me to be like God. I didn't quote from scripture... I didn't resist the temptation of the serpent. No, I bought the story and wanted to be like God. I took the bait and ate!
I took the bait and expected that God knew that I could be like God if only I take the bait and eat. So I eat the fruit that leads to my disobedience to God's command. I fall to the temptation rather than turn to God for the knowledge and instruction and teaching and life that I need. I think I can get all of this on my own without God and... I die in my sin. Yes... I die in my sin!
But the serpent told me if I ate... I would be like God and not die? But instead... I die in my sin... and God dies with me. Yes God dies with me in my sin. All because.. I took the bait and ate... all because I broke my relationship with God.
And now we wait... now we wait for God. We wait for God to save us from our selfishness, our sinfulness, our very sin. We wait upon life from God because of what we, or rather I have done. Yes... and now we wait upon a Savior... we wait... and God sends the Savior! Jesus Christ to be our sin and to die in our sin. In Jesus we gain access to that tree of life. Only in and through Jesus. Not through any effort we can must can we have life. We only have life in the death of Jesus upon that cross while Jesus die in our sin.
I leave you with this song that reminds me that I need forgiveness and that my focus needs to be on the Lord and to magnify God alone and not myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPTjHpIIOw
Prayer
Lord, it wasn't just Eve... it wasn't just Adam... it wasn't just the serpent... it was me... I thought I could be you... I thought I could know life by knowing the fruit of good and evil... but life is only in you... in you alone... forgive me I pray... forgive my sin... restore my relationship with you alone... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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