Often when I read the bible I try to put myself in the story. Do you do that? I often wonder what the person was thinking and feeling. What did it smell like there? What might my reaction have been?
So, I was thinking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. What a sweet place to be. Surrounded by such beauty. I look around in the story and in my mind everything is lush. Don't laugh, but it's kind of like Hawaii or some tropical location. There are flowers of every color, trees that are so green they look like emeralds. The water is a crystal blue shade shaded only by the fish that swim happily in harmony. There are birds that sing joyous melodies. They are numerous and every represented by every color in a box of crayons. The air smells crisp and clean, not tainted by anything, its pure and natural. The animals travel with their herds basking in the fields, not threatening one another, living peacefully sharing this amazing place. We walked with God daily. Sometimes He'd remember an animal or tree we forgot to name. Well, there were so many...Life was good. There was peace. We had everything we needed. He was clear about one thing, the only thing, do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If we do we shall surely die. There are so many lessons in this story, but I'll try to unpack just one for now. God did not want us to eat of this tree or we will surely die. Adam and Eve didn't die but a lot did cease that day. They no longer were able to enjoy just being who God designed them to be. Once they ate from the tree, their eyes were opened beyond what God wanted them to see. Suddenly our oldest ancestors introduced an emotion that would separate us from God for years to come, shame. They hid from Him. I wonder how many times I've hid from God in my lifetime. What's interesting to me is while they were in the act of disobedience there was no eyes wide open then. We aren't looking at the whole picture. We're acting out of our fleshly wants and desires. After the fact, there's remorse and yes, shame. Then we hide. We hide not only from God but from those that matter. I know I've even hid from myself. We get so far off the beaten path, so far from our original design, that we "cover up" only we wear invisible masks not fig leaves. The sweeter take away from all this is even though they were disobedient, God still was available to them generations and generations later to this very day. The beautiful thing is the second Adam--Jesus. He ushered in the new agenda, the new way. He brought the kingdom here. It is now. Yes we live in a fallen world, but everyday we have the opportunity to bring our own version of the Garden of Eden wherever we go. We can walk with God daily. We can commune with Him. In Him we have everything we need.
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