At age 4 (or perhaps 5), I can recall watching as my mother set up the ironing board in the kitchen, plugged in the iron and positioned it in the center of the board. She saw me eyeballing it
and, knowing from experience how I loved to investigate all that was in my little world, admonished me to not touch the ironing board which would knock the iron over onto me; nor was I to touch the iron as it was hot and would burn me. As soon as Mom’s back was turned, I reached for the iron.
Mom found me several minutes later under my bed - clutching my blistered hand and whimpering in pain - where I had run to in order to escape the consequences I knew were sure to come from my disobedience to the warnings she had given me moments before about the iron.
I don’t recall getting punished in this instance; perhaps Mom felt that the pain of the burn was punishment enough. I do remember Mom gently putting salve onto my burned palm and
fingers. She held me while she spoke softly to me of how important it was that I minded her in future as she wanted to protect me and keep me from getting hurt. I learned my lesson about the iron and never again reached for it when I shouldn’t.
God, as a loving Father, had also warned His children, Adam and Eve, not to touch something or else they would die.
Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
They had the entire garden to delve into, yet the serpent (Satan), who was more crafty than any other wild animal God had created, asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1) He made it sound as if God were withholding something good from Eve and her husband by excluding this particular tree from their area of exploration. The more Eve and Satan carried on this conversation, the more pleasing the fruit of the forbidden tree became to her. Before long, she plucked a piece of fruit from the tree, ate it and then shared it with her husband.
Death did occur instantaneously though not in a physical sense, but rather in a spiritual one. Because of this one act of disobedience, separation from their loving Father was immediate, not only for Adam and Eve, but was also passed down to every human being who was born afterwards, including us.
Just as I had hidden from my Mom when I had disobeyed her warning to me about the iron, so, too, did Adam and Eve hide from their Father after they had disobeyed His warning about the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:8 “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the
garden.”
God called out, asked why they were hiding and then inquired as to if they had eaten of the tree He had warned them about.
God knew what they had done, but desired that they admitted it freely to Him. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, instead of answering His question directly, they each began to place blame for their poor choice onto someone else: Adam blamed Eve while Eve blamed the serpent. Regardless of whom they tried to blame, there were still consequences to be doled out for their disobedience as it was each individual’s choice to ignore
God’s warning and do what He had said not to do.
There are always negative consequences to disobedience, and just as my Mom placed salve on my burns to help them to stop hurting, immediately after Adam and Eve were confronted by God, He placed a ‘salve’ on their wounded spirits by giving the first promise of Messiah that would lead to true reconciliation between God and mankind in verse 15: “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [Christ] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Psalm 103:8-13 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will be harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;”
The Father is calling out to you today and longs to share the promise with you that He spoke about of a reconciled life with Him through His Son, the Christ. His healing salve is for all who will ask. He’s waiting for you.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
and, knowing from experience how I loved to investigate all that was in my little world, admonished me to not touch the ironing board which would knock the iron over onto me; nor was I to touch the iron as it was hot and would burn me. As soon as Mom’s back was turned, I reached for the iron.
Mom found me several minutes later under my bed - clutching my blistered hand and whimpering in pain - where I had run to in order to escape the consequences I knew were sure to come from my disobedience to the warnings she had given me moments before about the iron.
I don’t recall getting punished in this instance; perhaps Mom felt that the pain of the burn was punishment enough. I do remember Mom gently putting salve onto my burned palm and
fingers. She held me while she spoke softly to me of how important it was that I minded her in future as she wanted to protect me and keep me from getting hurt. I learned my lesson about the iron and never again reached for it when I shouldn’t.
God, as a loving Father, had also warned His children, Adam and Eve, not to touch something or else they would die.
Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
They had the entire garden to delve into, yet the serpent (Satan), who was more crafty than any other wild animal God had created, asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1) He made it sound as if God were withholding something good from Eve and her husband by excluding this particular tree from their area of exploration. The more Eve and Satan carried on this conversation, the more pleasing the fruit of the forbidden tree became to her. Before long, she plucked a piece of fruit from the tree, ate it and then shared it with her husband.
Death did occur instantaneously though not in a physical sense, but rather in a spiritual one. Because of this one act of disobedience, separation from their loving Father was immediate, not only for Adam and Eve, but was also passed down to every human being who was born afterwards, including us.
Just as I had hidden from my Mom when I had disobeyed her warning to me about the iron, so, too, did Adam and Eve hide from their Father after they had disobeyed His warning about the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:8 “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the
garden.”
God called out, asked why they were hiding and then inquired as to if they had eaten of the tree He had warned them about.
God knew what they had done, but desired that they admitted it freely to Him. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, instead of answering His question directly, they each began to place blame for their poor choice onto someone else: Adam blamed Eve while Eve blamed the serpent. Regardless of whom they tried to blame, there were still consequences to be doled out for their disobedience as it was each individual’s choice to ignore
God’s warning and do what He had said not to do.
There are always negative consequences to disobedience, and just as my Mom placed salve on my burns to help them to stop hurting, immediately after Adam and Eve were confronted by God, He placed a ‘salve’ on their wounded spirits by giving the first promise of Messiah that would lead to true reconciliation between God and mankind in verse 15: “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [Christ] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Psalm 103:8-13 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will be harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;”
The Father is calling out to you today and longs to share the promise with you that He spoke about of a reconciled life with Him through His Son, the Christ. His healing salve is for all who will ask. He’s waiting for you.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
RSS Feed