God is crazy!

August 3 - 4, 2020 (Monday and Tuesday)

 

John Wesley observed, when Adam sinned “the life of God was extinguished in his soul.” The “image of God” was broken. The human moral image was lost, rendering humankind no longer “capable of God.” We became disabled from loving and obeying God, as we were designed to do. We became dead spiritually. We continue in our defiance and rebellion against God.

 

Let’s examine what happened. First, Satan questions the Word of God. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” [Genesis 3:1 ESV] We know from later descriptions, the serpent is Satan. 

 

Notice Satan QUESTIONS what God said. This plants a seed of doubt. Doubt destroys belief. Satan's question is a MISQUOTE. He change the command to “any tree” rather than one specific tree (of the knowledge of Good and Evil). The underhanded suggestion is the denial of one thing implies the denial of something good. The misquote itself is an EXAGGERATION. Satan is attempting to plant the idea that God is UNREASONABLE.

 

Eve misquotes God’s single command, “…You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” [Genesis 3:3 ESV] In verse 2 she states they are allowed to eat from every tree. However, there is one restriction. Did Eve ADD to the command to defend her position or did Adam change the command? My suspicion is the error lays at Adam’s feet.

 

Once Eve is outside the safety of God’s single command, Milton says, "Satan smiled." The next step in luring Eve into sin was to contradict God directly. “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” [Genesis 3:4 ESV] The seeds of doubt begin to sink deep roots into Eve’s heart as she listens to the Devil. Satan continues with his lie, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:5 ESV]

 

The “grass is always greener over the septic tank.” There is a reason for this deception. They doubt God knows best and has our best interest at heart. Doubt is the seed of unbelief. The trouble is unbelief is not even-handed. Not believing God means believing the Devil.

 

From there, desire took hold. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” [Genesis 3:6 ESV] The eyes are drawn to the appearance. The mind creates a fiction of the imagination. The desire sparks the fire of ill-directed feelings. Doubt's fruit is the disregard of God’s warnings. What does Adam do? Absolutely nothing, except bow to social pressure to conform.

 

The ability to disregard God’s warnings is the destruction of trust. It creates a false sense of independence and generates the promise of pride. The reality is, this sin would condemn humanity into darkness. Because of sin, this world is diseased, dying, and decaying. We are broken.

 

All because of sin. Adam and Eve rebelled against God; their descendants are still doing so. Why in the world would God want to save us? Why would God (the Father) send Jesus (God the Son) to die for us? Because He is crazy. Crazy in love with you.