The thought took me back to the beginning of the book of Genesis. We read how God created the universe, earth, separated the waters and dry land. We marvel at His creation of all kinds of life, in the water, the air, and on land. Toward the end of chapter two we read of God creating man and put him in the garden. We read how God instructed man, (notice He told the man, woman had not yet been created) "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you surely shall die."
God saw that man was lonely and created woman to be his companion. They were not clothed and had no feeling of shame.They cared for the garden and walked in harmony with God.
Along came the serpent and deceived the man and the woman and they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent gave them the desire to disobey God in order to be like God. As we know, they ate of the forbidden fruit and immediately realized they were naked and immediately felt shame and made clothes of the leaves of the garden.
Things changed in a heartbeat. Their relationship with God changed, they felt shame and fear. God, who they walked with and communed with was now the one they feared. Rather than look forward to spending time with Him, they now hid from Him. Rather than looking forward to being with Him, they trembled in the bushes. (What if the man, having been instructed by God not to eat of that tree had stood strong and stopped the woman form eating of the forbidden fruit? He knew it was wrong. What if he had stepped in and taken control?)
God asked them to come clean. He asked them if they had eaten from the forbidden tree. The man blamed God and the woman. What? He blamed God? Never saw that? Here is what the man said when God asked him about the fruit. Genesis 3:12 NASB "And the man said, "The woman whom THOU gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." Maybe he wasn't blaming God directly but it could be taken to mean if the woman had never been given to him, none of this would have happened. Then the woman blamed the serpent. God cursed the serpent. The woman was given great pain in childbirth and the man was to toil over the earth all the days of his life. God knew their shame and made garments of animal skin for them. For the first time in the garden a life had to be given for man. An animal had to loose it's life to cover the sin of the shame of being naked for the man and woman. They were given names. The man was named Adam and the woman was named Eve.
To protect them from eating of the tree of life, lest they live forever in the sin and pain that had now come into Creation, God sent them out of the garden.
That takes us to chapter 4 in which Adam and Eve had children, Cain and Abel. From there on we see the world grow. In the rest of the Bible, we see God making and executing a plan to reconcile mankind to become what it was once created to be
I cannot find any time during the fall in the garden that Adam or Eve ever admitted they had done wrong. Adam said he ate of it but the woman gave it to him. I don't see that as an admission of wrongdoing. I also cannot find anywhere during the fall that they went to God and asked Him to forgive them. That hit me in a very powerful way this week. They blamed someone else for what they did wrong, tried to cover it up, and accepted a miserable life rather than attempt to make things right.
It is hard to admit we have done wrong, isn't it? Don't we sometime choke on the thought of having to admit we are wrong? Often, does it not take us weeks of feeling guilty before we can admit we have messed up? It can be with or spouses, kids, bosses, friends, neighbors, or even coworkers. Why do we have such a hard time admitting we have messed up and ask to be forgiven? It is that same serpent telling us we are right, we have not really done anything wrong or we blame the other person in an attempt to feel less guilty or wrong. So, how has that worked for us in the past? How did that work for Adam and Eve? Not sure? Take a look around at all the ugliness of our lifetime and you will have your answer.
In loving others and even in loving ourselves, we need to not blame, pretend, ignore or try to cover up our mistakes. Is trading a once great relationship for one that is uncomfortable or may no longer exist hoping to avoid having to admit we have been in error a good trade? I wonder what would have happened if Adam and Eve had run straight to God and confessed they had done wrong. What if they took full responsibility for their actions and asked for forgiveness?
God gave mankind the ability to go to Him through Jesus to admit our wrongdoing that we might spend eternity with Him in the kind of relationship that once existed for Adam and Eve. God set a plan in place where we can reclaim what was lost.
Perhaps, we can see the good that comes from " 'fessing up." Perhaps, we can come to the place that we choose to not wait days, or weeks, months, or years to set things right with those we are in conflict with. No one said it would be easy but the relief, freedom, and joy of a restored relationship is awesome. I encourage us all to realize the blessing of living a life filled without fear or regret but to live a life filled with great and loving relationships. I encourage us all to look at our lives and right any wrong we have done by admitting it and then ask to be forgiven. Please don't let one of the devil's best tools - pride - get in the way of the blessing that could be yours.
God spent the thousands of years we read about in the Bible paving a way for man and God to come together again. Please don't let such a great amount of time come between you and those you care about. Pave the way to a restored relationship that may be nagging at you. Easter is all about restoration, hope and forgiveness, wouldn't that be a great time to resurrect a damaged friendship?
Love and blessings to you all. Happy Easter!