Heartbreak in Paradise

Pray

I absolutely love being a father and a husband. My girls mean the world to me and watching them grow and play is better than any TV program. Some of my favorite memories continue to be the cuddles and the kisses and the smiles. The thing that makes my kids laugh the most is being kissed by their mommy and daddy. And we kiss their cheeks at the same time they laugh so hard. We call it an all-you-can-kiss buffet.

There was one moment in particular when we were loving each other and it triggered something inside of me that went introspective.

First, I was struck by a being who is so innocent, beautiful and precious that displays of love like kisses are what makes her bubble over with happiness that she just has to laugh. What incredibly innocent that is.

Second, I couldn’t help but think about God our Father. If I am receiving such joy from my little one, then I know that I am only getting the slightest glimpse of how our heavenly Father feels and felt when His creation was new.

God didn’t only get to see you and me for the first time and fall in love with all of us, but He got to create light. He got to form the world. He sprouted life—animals and plants. He created the first man and woman.

At each juncture, God’s statement was simple and true. The light? It was good. Plants? They are good. Animals? They are good. Man and woman? They were made in His image, they are good. All things were nothing short of beautiful. They were innocent and pure, it was all that way. I bet God in those times had proud father moments.

After putting a very special part of himself into Adam Eve, creating them with souls and in his own spiritual likeness, he must have enjoyed watching them enjoy each other. Watching them enjoy other aspects of Creation. It must have been a thrill to see his creation love one another just as our Triune God expresses love among Himself.

Let’s read about what actually happened here from Genesis 3:1-21:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when 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, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

After being created and being on earth for who knows how long, perhaps a short amount of time, perhaps a moderate amount of time, people are beginning to explore and go about their mandates. As beings who are made in the Image of God, they were given, and you and I have inherited, the Creation Mandate.

To fill the earth and rule it. That means to have children and to become creators in our own right by enjoying creation. Being made in the Image of God makes us like God to a point. We have a soul, a spirit, as God is a spirit. We have desires and capacity for love and relationships.

God exists as three in one. Not three separate gods. Not one God with three personalities. God is both three and one. That is what we call the trinity. God, as three and one lives in a relationship and community with Himself.

And within that small community of three there are relationships and roles that each of them fulfill. Most importantly, the triune God exists in a loving relationship within Himself.

Adam and Eve reflected God’s image in their ability for deep relationship and connection. We can see this by the fact that they have an aspect of themselves that goes beyond the physical because they have a spirit.

And that is so wonderful, it’s beautiful in the fullest sense of the word. For at least a brief while, everything must have been splendid. The triune God, Adam and Eve existing in loving harmony together in the midst of fresh creation. Like a father with His two children.

All of it was theirs, but they wanted more. The enticing of one serpent, who we know was Satan, the great adversary against mankind, is able to effectively tempt one, and then the other, into breaking the relationship.

Perhaps some of you can better imagine that pain than others. A loved one leaving you for something or someone else. A loved one choosing another over you. A child who says they can’t stand you and won’t talk to you. I’m not talking about jealousy, I’m talking about body numbing, throat crushing heartbreak.

What does God do now? The people He created, who He loves so greatly, have made the intentional decision to end their relationship. It wasn’t just a postcard with hurtful words. Their actions were a declaration that in their hearts, they wanted to replace God.

They’re not running away with the milkman. The new lover is themselves. They professed a declaration of independence from the God who made all things. They have a declaration of intent to be the gods of their own hearts and lives.

Gut wrenching. We as people have the ability to sympathize, so take this chance to sympathize with God. The persons you love most wanting nothing more to do with you, and to make it worse it’s not that there’s another person they have been drawn to… they simply want themselves more than they care to love you…

Can you feel that pain? Are you imagining this happening to you? I’m feeling emotionally exhausted from just speaking about this.

Family, when we sin in the present, we mimic the actions of our ancestors Adam and Eve. Our ancestors set up for us a dangerous precedent: the desire to rule our own lives. Our sin is disobedience against the Creator who established how to live lovingly with him.

And here we are, as people, finding ourselves acting out like Adam and Eve: sinning, communicating that we would rather be our own god, as if we define for ourselves what is right or wrong for us. That sin from Adam and Eve is biologically passed down to you and to me. Now it’s in our nature. We sin, we rebel, we harm by the very nature of being us.

So what does God do now? What are His options? Honestly, were I in his position, we’d be over. We’d be divorced, separated, ended. Humanity would be no more. The greatest harm ever done was the very first sin.

God is so good to us. From the moment humanity sought to break the relationship, God’s pursuit after that was mercy. No obliteration of mankind. Yes, repercussions. Pain in child bearing. Laboring for our own food.

But with those curses was a promise: Hope: Relief: the whisper of redemption: an offspring of Eve would crush the head of the serpent. Here is our great Jehovah Jireh, meaning God our provider and in this dilemma, there is eventually restoration of this broken relationship.

Our relationship with God is torn, but the merciful all powerful God took the mantle upon Himself to set humanity on the path of redemption.

Life would no longer be as simple or with ease and happiness as it once would have. Now that there is sin in this world the hearts of men and women are changed. We use the idea that humanity has fallen.

Fallen from a state of living in the flesh in the presence of God, to a lower and lesser place of the heart where we vainly attempt to rule ourselves. We’ve not stopped bearing the image of God, but the relationship between Creator and creation is marred.

You have to understand the idea was man and woman living in the Garden of Eden in the presence of God. The outcome was man and woman choosing something different. Why did God allow Adam and Eve to sin? Didn’t He know they would sin in the first place?

Yeah, He knew. He always knew that Adam and Eve would sin. He always knew that you would, too. What God gave Adam and Eve was free will. The ability to love freely. And with that freedom of will they chose something other than God. He always knew they would.

We can tell He always knew, because of the covenant He made with Adam and Eve. Right in the middle of the curses, God gave a covenant, which is a promise, that from Eve would come an offspring who would crush the head of the serpent. So, unable to save ourselves, God institutes His plan for redemption. It’s this plan that we will cover and learn about in the coming weeks.