During one of my devotions I was again reading the story of Adam and Eve. Here are the scriptures I was studying:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:3-19
I sometimes try and imagine what the response of Adam and Eve would have been to this pronouncement. Humor me as I imagine their response.
“Okay Eve, so what happened? Let’s take an inventory. It seems we are going to have real trouble with that serpent, you are going to have a lot of pain during childbirth, and there will be tensions between us. On my end, my work days are going to be a lot harder and at some point we are going into the ground where we came from”.
As I imagine such a response, I also like to think of Adam and Eve staring at each other with a quizzical look on their faces and then one of them asking, “But . . .what died?” I wonder if in some way they thought about when the serpent said, “You surely will not die” and considered if the serpent was correct.
Of course today, by God’s grace, we have come to understand that because of Adam and Eve’s sin death became part of what all humans would experience. Yet, as I was doing my devotional I just kept focusing on that question, “What died around here?” and I considered a great truth about sin. You see, when we sin, the negative effects of it are sometimes not apparent. This can be true for days, weeks or even years after the sin has taken place. We stride along thinking, “See, I got away with one (or two…or three). But God has told us that nothing is hidden that will not become evident and that the wages of sin are death and that sin, when it is full grown gives birth to death. The fact of the matter is that even though we may not be able to smell the stench yet, something died. Perhaps it was the death of a marital relationship that was destroyed by lust. Perhaps it was the death of any well-being that was taken along with that first use of drugs. Perhaps it was the death of any financial security that died at a Casino. Perhaps it was the death of a friendship that died when lies were told. Perhaps it was the death of freedom, when a crime was committed. Whatever died, one thing is certain and that it when we embraced a sin, death entered in. It is tragic what you see people go through. It is almost like they are lambs to the slaughter. They have no idea what is coming. The adultery seems great, the drugs feel great, the roulette wheel looks great, the lie works great and the crime paid great. But then the creeping, stinking, decaying grip of death of whatever shows itself to the victim and wide-eyed they stare in disbelief as their lives are ruined.
Of course this is not what God wants for us. He doesn’t want us to learn “the hard way”. Instead he wants us to walk in obedience and enjoy a wonderful time of fellowship with him. From the time of Adam and Eve until now, the fruit still looks “delightful” and one little bite seems harmless. Brothers and sisters, this is where we need to trust and obey God. The fruit, while appealing, is rotted on the inside and so shall we be if we rebel against God. The rot may not be evident, but trust God, it is coming and the joy of our salvation will be absent.
I know that this is easier said than done but my hope today for you…for me….is to walk in obedience to God. Ask God to strengthen you in your walk with Him. Let’s enjoy the fragrant and pleasing smell of sweet fellowship with God rather than having to ask, “What died around here?”
For Him,
Rob
April 23, 201623