September 2 – Adam & Eve

September 2 – Adam & Eve
Genesis 1:27-30; 2:7, 19-25

The first thing that comes to mind when we think about Adam and Even is their sin.  It’s really quite easy to focus on that since it changed the course of the world.  We aren’t in Paradise right now because they chose to sin and that just makes us mad.

But, I think that one thing we miss in all of that is the great love God had for them.  He created humanity in his own image and then he blessed them (Gen. 1:28-30).  Then, he loved Adam so much that he gave to him a woman who would be his companion.  The animals that had already been created were wonderful and Adam named them, but they weren’t someone that could be with Adam, so Eve was created.

In Paradise, God spent time with Adam and Eve. They were friends. Do you really imagine that it was the day after Eve’s creation when the serpent showed up to tempt her? I suspect there was more time involved.  God enjoyed walking through the garden and talking to the two of them.  He walked there one day and they were hiding from him because of their shame.  That was new behavior and what disappointment he had in his creation when he discovered what had occurred.

In order to protect the rest of creation, he had to punish them for their sin, but that certainly didn’t stop him from loving them.  It was God who made clothes for them before sending them away to live on their own.  He didn’t kill them and start over, he loved them for who they were and gave them freedom to establish their own lives.

We can be angry at Eve for eating that piece of fruit and at Adam for not having the strength to say no, or we can be grateful to God for giving us freedom to live our lives and to choose to enter back into a relationship with him.  It is that choice and the knowledge that his love for humanity extends to the beginning of time that makes me glad to know Him.