longggggggggggg thoughts on genesis.
If you will allow it, the story of the fall of man will change your life.
Genesis 3 might be the most insightful set of Scripture one can find. Psychology and self-help take a back seat to the clear-cut description of sin’s origin. If you want to understand your life, start with Genesis 2:25: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
We’ve just seen how intimate God and Adam are, and how God provides for Adam’s needs before he even knows that he has them. In putting Adam into a deep sleep, removing a rib from his side, and forming woman around it, God is saying “My image in man is made complete when love is shared.” Isolation is not a quality of God.
God gave Adam the following bit of information: “Eat any fruit you want, but that one tree over there produces fruit that causes death. Don’t eat it, or you will die.” Simple instructions from a God totally trusted to a son totally submitted. Evil was foreign to Adam, so he had no reason to doubt the words of his first and only friend.
It doesn’t take long for the serpent to slither into the space between Eve and her Creator. We know nothing about Eve’s relationship with God. Before we know that God spoke to her, we know that Satan did. And what did he say? What else, except the antithesis of God, in the form of “ You will not surely die.”
Quickly God becomes the bad guy, the party pooper, the one trying to be in control. And there’s nothing quite as annoying as a control freak. In the face of Satan and his façade of wisdom, Eve submits to the real party pooper and soon feels the consequences of rebelling from the lovers of her soul: her maker and her husband. You didn’t have to grow up in church to know the story…Adam eats the apple too, and it’s downhill from there.
The fascinating part about this origin of sin story is the way that I can see my own specific sins in the very first humans to ever try living life on this planet. Let me name my core sins for you:
LYING
DISTRUST OF GOD
DECEPTION
SHAME
BLAME
FEAR
In my self-focused nature, I’ve believed that these sins were abnormally swollen in me. Surely most others around me have it together…they sure look to be functioning easily! Under my mask has been a whirlwind of chaos, a tidal wave of emotion, keeping me stuck in the eye of the storm. As God opened my eyes a few weeks ago to see this story afresh, I found solace in the message behind the message.
LYING:
God said, “If you eat that fruit, you will die.”
Satan said, “If you eat that fruit, you will not die.”
Satan lies to me, and I repeat his lies to others and to myself. Examples include “I’m a failure. I cannot be trusted. The worst will always happen. No one can be trusted. I’m ugly.”
DISTRUST:
Satan insinuates to Eve that she misunderstood God (“Surely you won’t die).
He makes God out to be on a power trip.
God looks like the party pooper trying to steal all the fun. He’s just full of rules.
Therefore, God cannot be trusted. It’s not THAT BAD, God’s so dramatic.
I find myself thinking these things about God and about righteous living, and I slip slowly into a cynical pit of self-pity.
DECEPTION:
Satan’s lies to Eve opened her heart and mind to question God. She suddenly saw the “benefits” of sin. Her own will was apparent, and it was attractive (of course it was!). She was blinded by the deception of sin. And that’s Satan’s modus operandi: blind the people so they cannot think clearly, so that what the once despised (sin) looks like the only solution, and above all else, get them to question the truth-teller, their Abba Father.
And ain’t that the story of the ages: Sin is sneaky. Sin is enticing. And yet, sin always always always leads to death.
Note to self: God can be trusted.
SHAME:
Suddenly, Adam and Eve knew they were naked. And they felt shame. Shame led them to hide. Oh heavens, how I see that behavior so deeply rooted in myself. Shame is like a vortex of darkness and it sucks intense thinkers like me into it’s nastiness. I used to spend DAYS in shame over sin, and this was after I became a Christian. I had such trouble allowing myself to live forgiven. I see now that this is the work of Satan in a believer’s life. He tells us we are worthless and all is lost.
BLAME:
Shame leads to blame. We want out of the limelight, so we shift the attention to another unsuspecting bystander, typically behind their back. But when God said to Adam “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat the fruit?” Adam doesn’t own his sin with a simple “Yes”. He says “Eve made me do it…” And the blame keeps shifting all the way down to the ground where Satan sits, pleased with his work.
FEAR:
Adam avoids repentance by hiding from God in fear. He has yet to learn that God is a forgiving Father, seventy times seven. Fear of punishment causes some of us to run our entire lives.
But now let me draw attention out of this depressing list of pain into the light of God’s face. It’s the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen, and it’s changed my life.
After all this, lying, distrust, deception, shame, blame, and fear enters a God beyond our comprehensions of goodness and justice and peace. He brings consequences, because that is just of Him to do. But then, he doesn’t dwell on the sin. Instead, he gives Eve a name. Do you know what the name Eve means? Life-giver.
God does not name us according to our sin. He names us according to the purpose we were created for. All throughout the Bible, God is renaming people. He’s not dwelling on their sin, he’s dwelling on their purpose. I’d expect God to give Eve a name meaning “sin-conceiver” or “death-bringer” or “temptress of the ages”…but she’s given a name for her purpose, of which she hasn’t even stepped into yet. That’s so incredible it makes the hairs on my arm stand up!
And then God does the most gentleman-ly thing imaginable. He makes covering for their shame. He takes fig leaves and he covers them. He accommodates their fallen nature by covering their sin with His love. He extends compassion upon their human-ness.
My oh my, the God whose love covers a multitude of sins. How dare I fear thee, hide from thee, refuse thy blood? How dare I take my sin into my own hands and turn it over and over, staring into its dark and murky complexion? The God of light and life sets me free as many times as I have means to sin. He is so good to us.
Genesis 3 might be the most insightful set of Scripture one can find. Psychology and self-help take a back seat to the clear-cut description of sin’s origin. If you want to understand your life, start with Genesis 2:25: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
We’ve just seen how intimate God and Adam are, and how God provides for Adam’s needs before he even knows that he has them. In putting Adam into a deep sleep, removing a rib from his side, and forming woman around it, God is saying “My image in man is made complete when love is shared.” Isolation is not a quality of God.
God gave Adam the following bit of information: “Eat any fruit you want, but that one tree over there produces fruit that causes death. Don’t eat it, or you will die.” Simple instructions from a God totally trusted to a son totally submitted. Evil was foreign to Adam, so he had no reason to doubt the words of his first and only friend.
It doesn’t take long for the serpent to slither into the space between Eve and her Creator. We know nothing about Eve’s relationship with God. Before we know that God spoke to her, we know that Satan did. And what did he say? What else, except the antithesis of God, in the form of “ You will not surely die.”
Quickly God becomes the bad guy, the party pooper, the one trying to be in control. And there’s nothing quite as annoying as a control freak. In the face of Satan and his façade of wisdom, Eve submits to the real party pooper and soon feels the consequences of rebelling from the lovers of her soul: her maker and her husband. You didn’t have to grow up in church to know the story…Adam eats the apple too, and it’s downhill from there.
The fascinating part about this origin of sin story is the way that I can see my own specific sins in the very first humans to ever try living life on this planet. Let me name my core sins for you:
LYING
DISTRUST OF GOD
DECEPTION
SHAME
BLAME
FEAR
In my self-focused nature, I’ve believed that these sins were abnormally swollen in me. Surely most others around me have it together…they sure look to be functioning easily! Under my mask has been a whirlwind of chaos, a tidal wave of emotion, keeping me stuck in the eye of the storm. As God opened my eyes a few weeks ago to see this story afresh, I found solace in the message behind the message.
LYING:
God said, “If you eat that fruit, you will die.”
Satan said, “If you eat that fruit, you will not die.”
Satan lies to me, and I repeat his lies to others and to myself. Examples include “I’m a failure. I cannot be trusted. The worst will always happen. No one can be trusted. I’m ugly.”
DISTRUST:
Satan insinuates to Eve that she misunderstood God (“Surely you won’t die).
He makes God out to be on a power trip.
God looks like the party pooper trying to steal all the fun. He’s just full of rules.
Therefore, God cannot be trusted. It’s not THAT BAD, God’s so dramatic.
I find myself thinking these things about God and about righteous living, and I slip slowly into a cynical pit of self-pity.
DECEPTION:
Satan’s lies to Eve opened her heart and mind to question God. She suddenly saw the “benefits” of sin. Her own will was apparent, and it was attractive (of course it was!). She was blinded by the deception of sin. And that’s Satan’s modus operandi: blind the people so they cannot think clearly, so that what the once despised (sin) looks like the only solution, and above all else, get them to question the truth-teller, their Abba Father.
And ain’t that the story of the ages: Sin is sneaky. Sin is enticing. And yet, sin always always always leads to death.
Note to self: God can be trusted.
SHAME:
Suddenly, Adam and Eve knew they were naked. And they felt shame. Shame led them to hide. Oh heavens, how I see that behavior so deeply rooted in myself. Shame is like a vortex of darkness and it sucks intense thinkers like me into it’s nastiness. I used to spend DAYS in shame over sin, and this was after I became a Christian. I had such trouble allowing myself to live forgiven. I see now that this is the work of Satan in a believer’s life. He tells us we are worthless and all is lost.
BLAME:
Shame leads to blame. We want out of the limelight, so we shift the attention to another unsuspecting bystander, typically behind their back. But when God said to Adam “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat the fruit?” Adam doesn’t own his sin with a simple “Yes”. He says “Eve made me do it…” And the blame keeps shifting all the way down to the ground where Satan sits, pleased with his work.
FEAR:
Adam avoids repentance by hiding from God in fear. He has yet to learn that God is a forgiving Father, seventy times seven. Fear of punishment causes some of us to run our entire lives.
But now let me draw attention out of this depressing list of pain into the light of God’s face. It’s the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen, and it’s changed my life.
After all this, lying, distrust, deception, shame, blame, and fear enters a God beyond our comprehensions of goodness and justice and peace. He brings consequences, because that is just of Him to do. But then, he doesn’t dwell on the sin. Instead, he gives Eve a name. Do you know what the name Eve means? Life-giver.
God does not name us according to our sin. He names us according to the purpose we were created for. All throughout the Bible, God is renaming people. He’s not dwelling on their sin, he’s dwelling on their purpose. I’d expect God to give Eve a name meaning “sin-conceiver” or “death-bringer” or “temptress of the ages”…but she’s given a name for her purpose, of which she hasn’t even stepped into yet. That’s so incredible it makes the hairs on my arm stand up!
And then God does the most gentleman-ly thing imaginable. He makes covering for their shame. He takes fig leaves and he covers them. He accommodates their fallen nature by covering their sin with His love. He extends compassion upon their human-ness.
My oh my, the God whose love covers a multitude of sins. How dare I fear thee, hide from thee, refuse thy blood? How dare I take my sin into my own hands and turn it over and over, staring into its dark and murky complexion? The God of light and life sets me free as many times as I have means to sin. He is so good to us.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving this up. I did not see in March but June while you are here. Kind of neat to be able to see you here yet read where you were in March. Really good stuff. Thanks always for sharing your heart about what you've learned. Love, dad
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