Crisis. According to one online definition, a crisis is “a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.” If you are human – and I highly suspect that you are – and are at least in the teenage years or older, you have had a minimum of one, if not several, already in your life. Over the course of your lifetime you will likely experience several more.
Yet hope is not lost. God, in His wisdom and great love for us, knew that this would be so as far back as the Garden of Eden when mankind had their first and greatest crisis.
At the time of creation, God made a lovely environment – a garden spot – and put the man He had formed in it.
Genesis 2:15 (Amp.) “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.”
God also created a wife for Adam and together they lived in and took care of the garden and all of the things in it that God had created for them there. Life was going well until Genesis chapter 3 when Satan spoke through a serpent that also lived in the garden. He (Satan) deceived Eve by implying that God was unfair because He was withholding something from them when He forbade them to eat the fruit of two trees in the garden. These trees were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve believed Satan, ate of the fruit and then shared it with her husband.
Genesis 3:8 (NIV) “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. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?””
Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord as He was walking. The implication is that God walked so frequently in the garden that the sound of His tread was recognizable to them. This day though, instead of joining Him to talk over the days’ activities or simply walk with Him while He saw what work they had performed that day, they hid from Him because they were ashamed.
When they had eaten the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, several things happened at once: They recognized that they were naked (i.e. exposed); in their disobedience to God, the first act of sin was committed which caused a chasm in their relationship with Him; the ruling of the Earth was immediately transferred from Man's authority into Satan’s hands; God cursed the serpent (i.e. Satan) and He cursed the ground; there would now be greatly increased childbearing pains for the woman; and man would have to eat by the sweat of his brow. As if that were not enough, God, in His great compassion for them, had to exhibit tough love and banish them from the garden He had created for them so
that they would not also eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, which would cause them to forever live in their now-fallen state of separation from Him.
Talk about a crisis! The knowledge Adam and Eve had gained through their acceptance of Satan’s deception cost them their home, their dominion over the earth, and eternity with their Creator.
All was not lost, however, as before God banished them, He clothed them in animal skins so they would not be exposed, and He also gave them hope that, while this crisis would now be passed down to every member of humanity from this point forward, He had a plan.
Genesis 3:15 (Amp.) “And I [God] will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will
lie in wait and bruise His heel.”
God gave them assurance that a plan was already put into motion that would not only rescue them, but also us from this crisis state. This plan would come about through the Offspring of woman spoken of in the verse above and was in the form of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. Because of Him [Christ], we no longer have to be separated from God through our inherited state of sin. He is still our only Hope today to have a right relationship with our Creator.
Romans 7:27 “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day,
first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (emphasis mine)
Do you find yourself facing a crisis today? You do not have to face it alone. Just as God called “Where are you?” to Adam and Eve, He’s calling also to you today. He’s waiting for you to answer.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
Yet hope is not lost. God, in His wisdom and great love for us, knew that this would be so as far back as the Garden of Eden when mankind had their first and greatest crisis.
At the time of creation, God made a lovely environment – a garden spot – and put the man He had formed in it.
Genesis 2:15 (Amp.) “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.”
God also created a wife for Adam and together they lived in and took care of the garden and all of the things in it that God had created for them there. Life was going well until Genesis chapter 3 when Satan spoke through a serpent that also lived in the garden. He (Satan) deceived Eve by implying that God was unfair because He was withholding something from them when He forbade them to eat the fruit of two trees in the garden. These trees were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve believed Satan, ate of the fruit and then shared it with her husband.
Genesis 3:8 (NIV) “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. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?””
Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord as He was walking. The implication is that God walked so frequently in the garden that the sound of His tread was recognizable to them. This day though, instead of joining Him to talk over the days’ activities or simply walk with Him while He saw what work they had performed that day, they hid from Him because they were ashamed.
When they had eaten the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, several things happened at once: They recognized that they were naked (i.e. exposed); in their disobedience to God, the first act of sin was committed which caused a chasm in their relationship with Him; the ruling of the Earth was immediately transferred from Man's authority into Satan’s hands; God cursed the serpent (i.e. Satan) and He cursed the ground; there would now be greatly increased childbearing pains for the woman; and man would have to eat by the sweat of his brow. As if that were not enough, God, in His great compassion for them, had to exhibit tough love and banish them from the garden He had created for them so
that they would not also eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, which would cause them to forever live in their now-fallen state of separation from Him.
Talk about a crisis! The knowledge Adam and Eve had gained through their acceptance of Satan’s deception cost them their home, their dominion over the earth, and eternity with their Creator.
All was not lost, however, as before God banished them, He clothed them in animal skins so they would not be exposed, and He also gave them hope that, while this crisis would now be passed down to every member of humanity from this point forward, He had a plan.
Genesis 3:15 (Amp.) “And I [God] will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will
lie in wait and bruise His heel.”
God gave them assurance that a plan was already put into motion that would not only rescue them, but also us from this crisis state. This plan would come about through the Offspring of woman spoken of in the verse above and was in the form of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. Because of Him [Christ], we no longer have to be separated from God through our inherited state of sin. He is still our only Hope today to have a right relationship with our Creator.
Romans 7:27 “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day,
first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (emphasis mine)
Do you find yourself facing a crisis today? You do not have to face it alone. Just as God called “Where are you?” to Adam and Eve, He’s calling also to you today. He’s waiting for you to answer.
(For more information about forming a relationship with the Lord, see How You Can Find Him located at the top of this page.)
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