Day 3

Genesis 3:1-24 The Fall

3 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^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘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.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ 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,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

 

Well, here it is!  The debut of sin.  It crept in with subtle words that made Adam and Eve feel they deserved to sin.  It would be so much fun!  They could be God, and they would have the power.  That was what they wanted.  It would make them feel great.  They thought it would improve on perfection.

 

Well, surprise!  They could not improve on God’s plan.  Sin resulted in separation from God and all the perfection and beauty they lived with.  It was replaced with pain and toil and broken relationship.  It was forever lost.  God provided a way to restore relationships with Him, but it was never like in the garden.  That was lost.

As we enter advent let us ponder our relationship with God.  What do we want in that relationship?  We need forgiveness for the myriad of times we give in to the sin of discontent and try to fashion something better.  Just give that up!  You cannot make anything better than God.  So sit down for ten minutes and practice being content with God!