Warning day1

 Genesis 3-11

 

WARNING: Do not eat the fruit of this tree! If you do, you will die!

Such an odd warning. What was the big deal about the fruit of that tree? It didn’t look poisonous. It looked pretty good, actually. But God made this huge deal out of Adam and Eve not eating this particular fruit off of this particular tree.

Apparently Adam couldn’t figure out why God said what He said, but he knew God meant what He said. So Adam told Eve it would be best to not even touch the tree. And she probably would have been okay, if that serpent hadn’t shown up asking all those questions.

“Did God really say that?”

“Do you really think you’ll die?”

“Why do you suppose God said that?”

All those questions, and no sufficient answers. That’s when the doubts began.

Maybe He didn’t really mean it. The more I look at it, the better it looks. Maybe God is insecure and manipulative. Maybe He doesn’t really have our best interests at heart. He’s not even here right now. C’mon, let’s just try it.

In that moment, the whole world started to come unraveled.

The hook was set and they swallowed the bait, and nothing would ever be the same again. Sin, which before only existed in theory, was now a reality. Work was hard now, and frustrating. Childbirth was painful. Their relationship was strained. Adam seemed distant, preoccupied with other things. Eve seemed clingy and needy, almost desperate for his attention.

God was still there, but it was different. He pursued them, but they found themselves hiding from Him — terrified at what they must look like to Him, frightened that one day He might decide He’d had enough and wipe them off the face of the earth.

Possibly the worst part was what they saw in their children. Right off the bat, the kids seemed to be leaning away from God, away from intimacy with others, away from their own best interests. They seemed bent on their own destruction. Sometimes they did the right thing, but it usually seemed forced. It didn’t seem to come naturally. And then the grand-kids came along, and sin started to spread out wider and wider. More and more kids growing up to be worse and worse, plotting new ways of doing wrong, even working together to rebel. The hook Adam and Eve swallowed appeared to have burrowed its way even deeper into their offspring.

It started as a seemingly harmless act. They just ate a piece of fruit they weren’t supposed to eat. And now kids were killing kids, swearing vengeance, taking multiple wives. It was as if they lacked the ability to restrain themselves, until every thought was only evil all the time.

Finally, God had enough. He decided to wipe the slate clean and start over. He found one guy, Noah, who seemed better than all the others, and then He flooded the earth, saving Noah and his family. Yet as soon as the water subsided, Noah planted a vineyard, grew some grapes, made some wine, got drunk, passed out naked, embarrassed himself and his sons, woke up, and through his hangover haze managed to curse his unborn grandchildren.

Wow, what a mess!

With just one act of disobedience, God’s beautiful creation became the Jerry Springer Show. Families torn apart by violence and deception. Brokenness. Frustration. Alienation. Fear. From that first bite, these have ruled the roost, and no matter how hard we try, we cannot rid ourselves of this awful hook that’s set deeply in our hearts and minds, corrupting absolutely everything.

WARNING: Do not eat the fruit of this tree! If you do, you will die!

Such an odd warning. Apparently God had His reasons for posting it.

 

Prayer 

 

Lord of all creation, You made us for Yourself, and You always take pleasure in granting us every good and perfect gift. Your Word is trustworthy and Your promises are sure. In spite of this, I struggle with trusting You enough to surrender to Your better way. I often succumb to my own devices and desires, foolishly hoping that I can successfully order my life without conscious dependence on You. When I rebel against Your goodness by choosing my will above Yours, I only grasp dust and ashes. Give me the grace to believe that you really do know what is best for me and that I do not. May I cling to Your character and rejoice in Your pursuit of me. I thank You that in spite of my waywardness, You never let me go. May I honour You so that my influence on others will be for their moral and spiritual good rather than their detriment.

In Jesus’s name, Amen