It says in Genesis 3 that when the Lord came to walk in the garden with his beloved creation, Adam and Eve hid from him. It was a forlorn thing to do but it’s true to say that our natural self tends to want to hide the sin we have committed not only from others but from ourselves and from God. We push the guilt deep inside of ourselves not realising that we are storing up problems for a later stage. Guilty secrets always have a cost! Those things that are hidden will one day pop up to let us know that they are still there. Guilt needs to be dealt with and the only way to do that is to confess it and allow the Lord to forgive you. The great news is that every single thing we have done whether in our past, our present or even in our future has been dealt with at the cross 2000 years ago! Jesus died to set us free from our guilty secrets! Woohoo indeed!
It’s interesting to note that even though the Lord knows what has happened with Adam and Eve he doesn’t condemn, instead he asks them questions. As Christians we so often condemn! So many people leave the church because we have taken it on board to be their judge and jury. We often forget we are all sinners saved by grace! We forget that the Lord Jesus told us clearly not to judge.
I recently heard a story about how Billy Graham answered a difficult question when he was attending a rally to support Bill Clinton. It was just after Bill Clinton’s sex scandal had been made public and so the reporter asked Billy how he could support such a man! Billy Graham answered the question wisely. He said, “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.” Oh, that we would learn to love others in that way. It’s not our job to judge or even to try and convict, it’s our job to love people into the Kingdom.
During God’s questions, Adam and Eve finally spurt out their version of the truth. It’s interesting to note that when we do something wrong, we often look for a scapegoat to take the blame and this is exactly what Adam and Eve did. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. When things don’t go well for us, there is always the temptation to blame someone else.
With Adam and Eve there was a slither of truth in their answer, but they needed to own their own choices. Each of us is responsible for our own choices. We need to be able to own the choices we make in life and freely admit when we get it wrong. No one forced Adam or Eve to eat the apple; they both chose to do so with their own free will, knowing that the Lord had commanded them not to do that.
Let’s learn from the way the Lord, out of love, dealt with Adam and Eve; maybe we need to ask questions rather than being the judge and the jury of others. Let’s pray for love, grace and wisdom for ourselves and for others.
