"So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:23-24.
It has been many thousands of years since that happened. God knew when he banished Adam and Eve exactly how long he would wait to redeem his creation. He knows today the exact day and hour of his return.
I sometimes attribute human characteristics to God even though I know he doesn't get tired or distracted. For example, if it had been me, I see myself looking ahead to thousands of years of people - my creation - getting themselves into serious trouble and expecting me to get them out AND never learning from their mistakes.
How in the world did he banish them without his heart breaking?! He created us for perfect fellowship with him - walking in the garden together kind of fellowship - and we ruined it. Even though he knew he would fix it one day can you imagine the sadness in his heart as he turned them out and withdrew his favor from them? He cursed the ground, turning one part of his creation against another.
I think this is another way we are made in his image. When we lose someone we love we grieve even knowing that we will be reunited in heaven. I believe that God grieves the loss of fellowship with us, the perfection of his whole creation, even though he knows that he will one day make it right again.
How could he not grieve when he sees the ruin we have made of his perfect work?
Think of times when you have felt far away from God, as if he had turned away and wasn't listening to you. Now imagine how that would feel if you had ever had a perfect relationship with him as Adam and Eve once did.
Thank God the story doesn't end with the fall. God always had a plan.
Today take time to consider the consequences of sin, how creation and our fellowship with God were destroyed. God grieves even as he is working out his redemptive plan. Ask him to restore your fellowship with him. Sit with him a while and listen. Ask him to show you his heart and you will see his love and concern for his creation. Ask him to work in your heart so that his love becomes yours, and you see his concern for each precious part of his creation.
Thank him that our stay in this world is a short one, but let him fill your heart with an urgency to tell the story of his redemption to the rest of his world.
I am praying for you today.
Sherri
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