What would you say is your worst failure/regret so far? What loss would you say hit you the hardest? And would you consider yourself more hopeful that things could change, or more skeptical?
Life, as we know it, has many setbacks and can lead to lots of regret. Oftentimes, it is easier to dismiss everything and block any thought of things stabilizing. In all this, we forget that God restores as many as will put their trust in him.
If we traveled down memory lane to the Garden of Eden, we would immediately realize that at the heart of biblical restoration is the need for men and women to be restored to right standing with God. True restoration begins where it matters the most: in our hearts and souls. We may, like Job, receive many riches and physical blessings. But if this is all we look to as evidence of God’s restoration, then we are gravely mistaken and misled. Believers must understand that God’s restoration depends on his hand, not our own. This reality must offer us great hope that the days ahead can be better than those past, for in God there is no shadow of turning; he remains the same.
Let us consider, then, how the account of Adam and Eve opens up to us the enduring character of God as a restorer.
The Rebellion: Living Independently of God
The background is the creation of the heavens and the earth. God created everything perfectly in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 and gave it the mark of approval, saying, “It is good.” We can conclude, therefore, that there was no error in what God did in the first two chapters. Perfection was the order of Eden and all of creation. The crown of creation was the man and woman, created in the image and likeness of God. God gave them clear instructions on how to handle themselves in the garden, for their joy and for God’s glory.
Genesis 3 begins with an introduction of an evil entity—Satan, in the form of a snake—who seems keen on undoing what God had initiated. Jesus rightly said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Satan’s assault on God’s creation begins with temptation. The aim was to get the man and the woman to doubt the instruction they had been given: “You shall not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. The day you eat of it, you shall surely die,” (Genesis 2:16-17). Although Adam and Eve knew God’s word, they gave Satan enough audience to ask in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say?” That is the goal of Satan—to cause us to doubt God’s word.
Adam and Eve gave in to the enticement and decided to live independently of God. Sin is doing anything God has said we should not do in his word. We see Eve give in to the seduction so that she could fulfill her hunger, her greed, and her ego! John says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Upon the fall of man, several things came into play and became the very basis of all the ills and troubles we see in the world today. All our trials find their origin in that one failure in the Garden of Eden. Our need for revival and restoration is occasioned by man’s rebellion against his Maker and King. Have you ever asked, perhaps even with a tinge of skepticism, Why should I pray and trust God for restoration? The simple answer is that we are not where we need to be, regardless of how well-crafted our lives might be.
No doubt Adam and Eve felt the bite of sin the hardest, having immediately fallen from the blessedness of the previous sinless state. Attendant to their rebellion was shame, an impulse to hide, a privation of accountability, and judgment.
Sin Brings Shame
Immediately they ate the fruit, they realized they were naked. For the first time, they felt ashamed in each other’s presence. They couldn’t look at each other, probably. Isn’t that true of us as well? When we sin, we often feel overwhelming shame. Or at times, when we have a very terrible background, we feel too ashamed to stand before other people, even where the sin was not exactly ours, but was committed by our parents/guardians before us. Any form of sin, whether done by us or against us, brings a sense of shame.
Sin Causes Us to Hide
When God finally came, as usual, to be with them, they weren’t there. They had hidden from him because of the weight of shame they felt. Sin had caused them to fear and hide from the God who is omnipresent and omniscient. When we walk in sin and are exposed, we don’t pose for a photo—we hide, a la at a Coldplay concert. Why? Because sin (living independently of God) has nothing fulfilling and satisfying.
Sin Causes Us to Shift Blame
When God sought to understand why his most valued creation and friends were running away from him (he knew, but he was seeking accountability and ownership), neither Adam nor his wife was ready to acknowledge their error. Adam, the steward of the commandment, refused to own up and pointed a finger at Eve. Eve was not willing to own up and therefore pointed a finger at the serpent. The serpent, being guilty, could not point to anyone else.
Here, we see one failure that has been with us ever since: our failure to take responsibility. Many of us will deflect responsibility to others when things go wrong. The danger in so doing is that it denies us the opportunity to grow and break free from the chains that seek to bind us and from an enemy keen on killing and destroying us. The apostle James would counsel, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15)
Sin Brings God’s Judgment
Finally, we see God’s judgment meted out on all three—the man, his wife, and the serpent. Man is promised difficult days that are cupped up with death, spiritual and physical death. The woman faces difficulties in childbearing and a state of subjugation. The whole sex, which, upon creation, is made equal with man, is, due to sin, made weaker and with a burden of desire to usurp authority from man. She is placed under her husband’s leadership. Minus sin, this act of submission would not be a pain or cause for tension. Adam was cursed as well. His habitation would change from beautiful to thorns and thistles. His food would be bitter herbs and not Eden’s delicacies. His toil, though once not strenuous, would be harsh and full of sweat and pain. Finally, God tells all of them that they shall return to the dust of the ground from which they came.
What has been on your plate of suffering this past year? No matter the generation we live in, all the evils, pains, strains, losses, heartaches, and all forms of malady are a result of one thing: Eden’s rebellion. When we see dysfunctional homes, troubled relationships among siblings, thefts and scandals, murder, and other societal ills, we need to be reminded that it was not always like that. Ideally, life was never meant to be what it is today. There was something more in God’s mind than brokenness.