Today’s Reading is Genesis 3:8-15 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. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!  You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspringand hers; he will crushyour head, and you will strike his heel.”

The text for today really takes me back to my childhood, which helps me relate with Adam and Eve’s thoughts.  I remember doing things that I knew were wrong, but still trying to push the boundaries that were set for my protection, which I thought were unnecessary.  I just didn’t understand the whole picture due to my lack of experience and maturity, just like Adam and Eve.  I also didn’t have the maturity to know how this could affect my future, but my parents did.  When they would start asking questions about the situation, giving me the opportunity to “come clean” with my sin, I just dug a deeper hole by increasing the lie or blaming others.  God gives us the opportunity to “come clean” every day by allowing us to ask for forgiveness and restore the relationship with Him through the life giving blood of our Savior.

I’ve also been blessed with the opportunity to have children of my own, which has allowed me to experience this same scenario from the parental side of things.  We just desire so much for our children to take ownership of their wrong doings that we give them lots of chances until at some point we must discipline them.  The pain of discipline seems to be greater from the deliverer of the punishment than from the receiver of the punishment.  It must have pained God to have to sever the relationship with Adam and Eve, but God in the end allowed those of us to continue the relationship with Him for eternity by sending us Himself in human form.  Christ received a horrible punishment at the hands of the very man that He was trying to save, but his tremendous love for us made it worth it.  There are many times in my past I’ve wanted a “do over” due to the pain I’ve caused someone and asked for forgiveness, maybe there’s someone today that you are feeling the need to call and talk to…

-dave