I chose Genesis for a different reason than my colleague Franks suggests. He thinks I am just not creative enough to think past the 1st book. There might be something in that, but he’s wrong. When someone asks me describe Christianity or maybe ask for some kind of summary of our beliefs I end up at the first three chapters of Genesis. They are first, but more importantly, within them is a world view that encompasses almost everything we need to know about the story of God’s ultimate love for his creation.
Take our verses today.
8 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. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.15 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.”
Unpacking these verses would take a lifetime. I know I have been thinking about them for a long time. But I am going to point you to just three places where the curtain is drawn back and we see into the heart of God and the heart of man.
First of all, if we read carefully, we can see that God desires to have a warm and loving relationship with us. What could speak more fluently of this desire than the thought of taking a walk with God “in the cool of the evening breeze”. Being in Eden was like that and has not been that way since. Once we have seen this fact then the sheer sadness of God calling out to Adam, “where are you?” hits home. It is from this God of grace that we hid, hiding behind our fig leaves thinking that this would somehow shelter us. But still, remember, what God wanted then and wants now, in other words what God’s purpose for us is revealed to be, is that we would walk with him.
Secondly, we can see the heart of our own sin and the picture of our response. It is child like when both Adam and Eve say “it was not me”. Like their offspring our first parents did not accept their own sinfulness but instead looked for every excuse they could to avoid the inevitable. Alcoholics Anonymous tell us that the first step in the road to liberation from alcohol is to admit one’s addiction. Adam and Eve have a way a journey to travel before they can admit their own sinfulness. It will quickly unfold of course just how tragic a mistake they have made. But that will next week’s study.
Thirdly, when faced with this tragedy, what does God do? First of all he does not wipe man the face of the earth. God is not like the child who when the Lego tower falls decides to crush and destroy the bricks. God decides to make the whole thing new again. The fullness of what God does will be the story which unfolds in the whole Bible story but in the meantime those earth shattering events are foretold in a few key phrases here. And the first word is to the serpent. It is as if God immediately has to be clear to all - evil will not win the day. Yes there will be consequences, yes this is a tragedy but the creation of God will not be thwarted.
Maybe that’s a good place to leave Genesis for the moment. It is a good thought to keep close to us. When God is faced with our foolish choices and broken promises of goodness his response is that evil will not triumph and that his will be done.
God help us to see that you are working tirelessly in our broken lives, healing them by your grace and making them fit again for Eden. Amen