This is the topic of our latest women's study: It's Not Supposed to Be this Way, by Lysa Terkeurst, is all about dealing with unmet expectations; the disappointments that happen in our lives (since the dawn of time!) that take us by surprise or betray our trusts. For the next 12 or more weeks all of the women at our church are invited to read, watch a video with Lysa, and discuss with each other how we can find unexpected strength when these disappointments leave us shattered, as the book's description reads.
In reading the first two chapters of her book and doing the workbook exercises, I had several "aha" moments, and also wept.
We' re living in between 2 gardens, the Garden of Eden and the new earth yet to come. Man was kicked out of the garden of Eden when sin was invited in by its in habitants, Adam and Eve.
The Fall
In Genesis chapters 2 and 3, God creates man and then woman to be a companion for man, and when woman goes and hangs out nearby the tree she is told not to go eat from, she meets the devil disguised as a snake who tempts her to disobey God. He entices her to eat the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil, and she gives of the fruit to her hubby and suddenly the two feel and experience shame for the first time.
Before we are to go blaming Eve, Lysa said, we need to examine ourselves. What was Eve's first wrong? She was hanging out by the tree; she was in close proximity to the place where she could be tempted to sin. We Christians are supposed to stay far away from it. "Go and sin no more," Jesus tells the adulterous woman who was being stoned to death by judgers and accusers, who sinned themselves. (John chapter 8).
So, why does my heart, my Spirit, grieve for the world?
Because we live in a broken world full of broken, sinful people. We all sin. Even Christians. Especially Christians! Everything, the energy is more and more evil, and we experience death often.
This world stinks! It's not what God created it to be. Sin messed with an otherwise perfect creation, and perfect, peaceful existence.
Darn!
Well, read this from the Bible:
The Temptation and Fall of Man (NKJV)
3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day 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, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 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 coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
How Sin Gets In
We talked about this in class, because this is important to understand not only how sin enters our life, but when you understand how something works you learn how to defeat it, as Christians are commanded to do.
So, in reading over the passage above, we see:
1.) Eve was near the temptation. She was close enough for the snake to talk to her, because she was hanging out by the Tree of Good and Evil! Stay away, girl! (But, in Eve's defense, it was attractive and alluring, as sin often is.)
2.) She engaged Satan in a conversation. Resist the devil and He will flee. "Get behind Me, Satan, " Jesus said, when Matthew asked Him not to go to the cross.
3.) She misinterpreted God. When Satan questioned her, she said she and Adam were not allowed to touch the tree, or they'll die. God never said that. Her confusion allowed Satan to "correct" her.
4.) He lied ... well, actually He didn't lie, but he appealed to their desires-- (Really, his desire) to be like God. His desire is to BE God.
5.) He tempted her. He knew she loved God so much that he persuaded her to think she idolized God and wanted to be like God. Idolatry is a sin, and Adam and Eve had not sinned UNTIL they chose to disobey God by listening to Satan. (See next point.)
6.) She disobeyed God and listened to Satan. She fell for his trick, and his lies! (She also did not consult with her husband, Adam, who MAY have persuaded her not to disobey God. Unless he was too smitten with his wife, after all, she always walked around the house naked...)
So, sin entered into God's creation. The man and woman He created in His image were no longer pure, they were sinful, guilt-ridden, ashamed... All these negative emotions entered in, and thus, God's creation became broken. And sin remains in our DNA.
The Two Questions God asked:
1.) Where are you?
2.) Who told you that you were naked?
"Where are you?"
So ridden with guilt, Adam explained himself (and I believe he now had the knowledge to understand what God was really asking: what state are you in? Why have you wondered away from Me?)
and
I think of the innocence in the answer that Moses said to God, when he was asked to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And faithful Abraham, when he was asked to sacrifice (er, kill) his son Isaac. At two separate times, they both answered faithfully: "Here I am, Lord!"
Or Isaiah, when he said, "Here I am, Lord! Send me!"
Instead, Adam answered with an explanation. "We were doing this..." and, "it was her (Eve's) fault..." and so on.
"Who told you that you were naked?" shows that now they know something they previously didn't and shows the shame, I believe NOT in discovering they are naked, but now wearing the shame of sin. Their sin is exposed.
Oh, Adam. Oh, Eve. You numbskulls! You messed it up for us all.
Sigh.
It was only a matter of time. Someone would have messed the perfection up. Satan is relentless.
The devil (Satan) roams around like a roaring lion Consider 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Thus, the result:
God knew if Adam and Eve later ate from the Tree of Life, (another tree in the garden), they would be left in their sinful state forever, and that is one thing, but eternally separated from God is the worst fate anyone can suffer, and the worst thing about Hell.
What we can do about disappointments, how we can overcome disappointments:
- Avoid sin.
- Guard your eyes and ears, and the company you keep. (Sometimes even biological family.)
- Put on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) daily.
- Pray often. Keep the tips of your "Prayer Arrows" sharp by cultivating a strong habit of prayer.
- Stay alert! Be on guard. When you become a Christian, you're enlisted in God's army. That means you sign up for battles, and you get on the devil's hit list. (At least you're on the winning side.)
Currently, I am struggling this week with family matters; this week last year we buried my dad and then 5 days later, my little brother passed away, suddenly, without warning; his two-year-old daughter the only one in the house. He was found unresponsive by a neighbor. Our dad was sick, and we knew he was dying, and He knew the Lord. My brother, while we had grown up in a religious home, was lost, angry, and well, entertained sin often; he didn't know any better.
I'm comforted by the fact that the Lord may have saved him at the last moment, and thus he is forever with God.
Still, my mind is strong in remembering this day, when just after 8 that night we got the phone call that he had passed away.
Thankfully, I'll be with my church family tonight for another bible study class during that time. And we can all say a prayer for our family.
Thanks for reading.
Vanessa
Photo by Nico Iseli on Unsplash
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