God is faithful and good. God is sovereign. God is our redeemer.
How did humanity respond?
Act Three: REbellion, Week 2
Wow! This week's passages are packed full of application and discussion points! If you haven't had an opportunity to grab another sister in Christ or attend one of the studies, make time soon. Each discussion I attended challenged me further to seek the Lord. As we look at the passages this week and answer the question, "How did humanity respond to the rebellion?," I hope and pray that you also will be challenged by God's words in your soul. He is asking you, as he lovingly spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden "Where are you?"
So let's take a look into a few of the ways humanity (that would be all of us!) respond in the face of rebellion.
In Genesis 2:16-17 God gave Adam a boundary (before he gave him a babe ) and one command to obey. God clearly said, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." The consequence was laid out "On the day that you eat of it, you will surely die" (spiritual and physical). At that time, everything was perfect in the garden; there was complete freedom to eat—except from this one tree. Why not? Why did He give Adam and Eve boundaries? If God had not given boundaries, we would not have the opportunity to choose Him. Our Creator, the God who sees us, is not forcing our hand. He wants us to choose Him because He loves us. He created us for relationship, but the kind of relationship is our choice. Will we choose a right (good) relationship or a wrong (evil) one? God longs for us to serve, love, and choose Him. He is good. Satan longs for us to serve and choose him instead. I don't know that he cares much about love. He is evil. It is game-on everyday! The battle of good and evil has begun. So, how did humanity respond and what can we learn from Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1-13?
We respond with doubt: In an attempt to build his rebel army, Satan twists the very words of God. The twisting of God's truthful Word was the first play in the enemy's playbook, and it worked (and it still works today!). "Did God really say?" Note how much easier it was for Satan to stir up doubt in Eve than in Adam, since God spoke directly to Adam. Satan uses this "doubt play" to tempt us to question our relationship with God, our identity, and what His truth says. We question the full forgiveness that comes through Christ, our Savior. We doubt we hear God's voice correctly. We doubt the very gift of God— that it is by grace we have been saved through faith!
We accept deceit: Satan deceived Eve into thinking that she would be like God. Look at what he says to Eve in Genesis 3:5. Satan takes his own sinful desire (to be God) and places the twisted idea into Eve's head: "you will be like God knowing good from evil." Why wouldn't Eve want to be like God? Everything she knows of Him is faithful and good. He is loving and gentle, a provider and her Creator. Satan is deceitfully tricky! Perhaps he is deceiving you into believing that what you want is not really that bad. This is a heart check: do we want what God wants or are we misled by what we want or what others want for us? Can we say, "Lord, not my will but Yours be done?"
We choose disobedience: Eve forgot about the joyful relationship she had with God. Eve desired the fruit. She saw it, and it was good. The desire and delight of her eyes led her to disobedience. She ate the fruit. She disobeyed. She shared it with Adam, and many more sinned. But God always had a plan to redeem sin! "For as by the one man’s [Adam's] disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s [Christ's] obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). We, like Eve, often choose disobedience. Thanks be to God, our story doesn't end there, but ends in Christ's obedience on our behalf!
We react with distraction: Adam and Eve knew they were naked, knew their sin, and so they hid. From the beginning, sin has led to hiding. We busy ourselves with distractions, in hopes of forgetting or pushing away that which has separated us from God. We are ashamed of our nakedness, and we try to cover it up with leaves and lies. We try to convince ourselves that it's "not all that bad." These are inappropriate responses to our sin (and the leaves don't cover us very well, do they?).
We become dismayed and cast blame: By our sinful behavior, and in our consternation and anxiety, we cast the blame like Adam did in verse 12 and Eve in verse 13. Our sin suddenly becomes the sin of others, our hearts harden, our eyes become blind. The cycle of sinning continues over and over. The pride of Satan and the lust of the eyes lead us further and further away from God.
We die: Sin brought on the consequence of death—physical death, and also a spiritual death of separation from God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death; sinners must die, because sin separates us from God. Any separation from the Source of Life is, naturally, death for us.
Don't you love how the Lord brings conviction (NOT condemnation, which is from the evil enemy) gently and lovingly into the garden of our hearts, and we hear Him whisper to us, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9b). He chooses us and wants to communicate with us. He breaks down the separation that our sin brings.
"Where are you, daughter?" He expects a response. He, of course, already knows where we are, but wants us to acknowledge the problem and come to Him instead of remaining with Satan in the shadows. Who will you choose? Who do you want to be the lord of your life? Remember, the battle between good (God) and evil (Satan) is on. On this day, who will you serve? The Bible says to "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19-20). Answer Him in obedience, knowing that, through faith in Jesus Christ alone...
We are delivered. It was the death of an animal that the Lord used to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, and it was the death of His son, Jesus, that the Lord used to cover the sin of you and I. Jesus said that to believe in Him is to have life. Faith in Christ leads to spiritual life and, ultimately, eternal life in the Garden with Him.
♥️ Meghan
