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Genesis 3:1, 4b-6, 8a, 14-15, 20-21 – 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’? … You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 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. … And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day … 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. 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.” … The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
This story is so embarrassing! God makes the first two human beings and puts them in a wonderful garden to live, and gives them only one command: “Don’t eat from the fruit of this one particular tree.” They can do anything else they want. They can eat any other fruit. They have God’s own company, and they have each other, and they have all the wonders of a world without evil. They even have the animals to enjoy!
And then the devil shows up and convinces them to break the only command God ever gave them. Why did they listen? The devil is a stranger, and he’s never done them any kindness at all. Why trust him instead of the God who has given them so many good things? At the very least, they could have waited a few hours and asked God about what the devil said!
It’s frustrating, and it’s heartbreaking, and I think it must have been that way for God, too, when He came looking for them—knowing full well that their hearts had already turned away from Him. Because God wasn’t going to give up on them, though they were already infected with evil. He still loved them. And He knew the price it would cost Him to bring the whole human race back to Him, healed of their evil. It would cost Him the cross. God Himself would become a human being, born to a woman, born to suffer and die and rise from the dead. Jesus did it because He loves us—so that He could bring us children of Adam and Eve home to Himself again, now as forgiven children of God.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, I’m sorry. Thank You for loving us so much, and bringing us home to You. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- Why do human beings do evil so easily?
- If you were God, would you have chosen to do what He did—or would you have decided to end the human race and start over?
- What do you imagine it would be like, to be God and then humble Yourself to become a human baby?
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