A Christmas Carol: W1 - WED
“What have you done?” Genesis 3:8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
It is perhaps the most difficult line that has ever been spoken, and for most of my life I breezed right by it. But when God goes in search of Adam and Eve, he knows where they are hiding. His question isn’t one of geography, it’s a question of proximity. He’s no longer close with them, connected, everything has changed.
And God knows not only what has changed, but what it will cost him. For you see, only God knew the answer to his own question, “What have you done?”
Yes, they broke trust and did the one thing they were asked not to do. Yes, they doubted in God who had done nothing but shower them with love and affection. And yes, their decision would banish them from the garden and from the access to the tree of life. But their decision would also put a wall up between him and them, him and us, a wall God never wanted. God simply wanted us to trust him, to obey believing that he was good.
Ahh, but the devil, God’s enemy, was out to try and destroy God and anything created in his image. You see, we remind the devil of his enemy, and if he can’t take God down, then he’ll hurt God by taking down that which God loves; us.
Thankfully, God planned for this possibility. He even gives a nod to his plan when he tells the serpent, “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” What is God talking about? It’s the plan of salvation.
You see, when God asks, “What have you done?” He has already set in motion the plan to save us, and only He knows that the very plan means that God the Son will end up laying down his life to save us from ours. He will make the choices we didn’t. He will lay His life down in a way we couldn’t. And only with His blood, will we be healed.
But to go through with the plan means that a relationship that has endured since before there was time, the Trinity, will eventually be severed. It will happen for three days, but even afterwards, their makeup will be forever changed. God will do this, however, because He loves us and does not want to live without us.
He may have had to banish us from the garden, but he doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. God leaves the garden too and goes in pursuit…of us.
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
It is perhaps the most difficult line that has ever been spoken, and for most of my life I breezed right by it. But when God goes in search of Adam and Eve, he knows where they are hiding. His question isn’t one of geography, it’s a question of proximity. He’s no longer close with them, connected, everything has changed.
And God knows not only what has changed, but what it will cost him. For you see, only God knew the answer to his own question, “What have you done?”
Yes, they broke trust and did the one thing they were asked not to do. Yes, they doubted in God who had done nothing but shower them with love and affection. And yes, their decision would banish them from the garden and from the access to the tree of life. But their decision would also put a wall up between him and them, him and us, a wall God never wanted. God simply wanted us to trust him, to obey believing that he was good.
Ahh, but the devil, God’s enemy, was out to try and destroy God and anything created in his image. You see, we remind the devil of his enemy, and if he can’t take God down, then he’ll hurt God by taking down that which God loves; us.
Thankfully, God planned for this possibility. He even gives a nod to his plan when he tells the serpent, “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” What is God talking about? It’s the plan of salvation.
You see, when God asks, “What have you done?” He has already set in motion the plan to save us, and only He knows that the very plan means that God the Son will end up laying down his life to save us from ours. He will make the choices we didn’t. He will lay His life down in a way we couldn’t. And only with His blood, will we be healed.
But to go through with the plan means that a relationship that has endured since before there was time, the Trinity, will eventually be severed. It will happen for three days, but even afterwards, their makeup will be forever changed. God will do this, however, because He loves us and does not want to live without us.
He may have had to banish us from the garden, but he doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. God leaves the garden too and goes in pursuit…of us.
- Why do you think we are so quick to hide from God when we mess up?
- God knew the risk to himself should he create us and we choose to rebel, so why create us? Why take the risk?
- Do you believe that God has been pursuing you since before you were born? If so, what does this truth mean to you?
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