Busted by God!

Then ... God said, "What is this you have done?" (Gen. 3:13)
Adam and Eve were exposed and ashamed. They quickly made themselves some clothes out of fig leaves. They were tying to cover their guilt and shame from themselves (and from God). And we've all been doing the same thing ever since - trying to cover the bad stuff with make-up and masks to hide who we really are!
Soon it was time for God's evening stroll so they ran and hid in the bushes. God found them. He knew what they had done. It was the saddest day there ever was! Adam, Eve and the snake were all busted by God!
God, being God - He had to do somethiing. God said, Becaise you have done this ...
Snake, you are going to have to crawl and eat dirt from now on. AND I'm declaring war on
you!
Woman, when you have babies you are going to have terrible pain and you will never ever make your husband really happy even when you try hard to do so.
Man, you heard My rule straight from My lips and you still made this terrible choice. You are going to have to work harder and harder just to scratch out a living - sweating and doing everything "by the hardest" until you finally die!
Then, God being God, He didn't leave things in a hopeless mess! He gave the promise that His war with Satan would end someday. He even gave the score. God wins everything; Satan loses! (Gen. 3:15)
God took a look at those leaf suits Adam and Eve were wearing. God made the fig tree so He knew how scratchy fig leaves are and how they woud dry and crumble leaving Adam and Eve naked and shamed all over again. So, God killed a lamb and made leather clothes for them. Maybe Adam and Eve and God had a little lamb picnic then just before God kicked them out of the garden.
God did something sad and wonderful for Adam and Eve. He tossed them out of the beautiful garden and stationed an angel to keep them out so they couldn't find the path to the Tree of Life. That was God's severe mercy! If they got a notion to eat from the Tree of Life (Gen. 2:9) they would be forever stuck in death, sin and misery. So, God protected them from themselves by kicking them out and blocking the way back in! Best of all, God made a promise to fix all that broke that terrible day - someday!
Adam and Eve didn't know what we know. We know that Jesus came. We know that Jesus' death on the cross fixed the mess Adam and Eve and the Devil made. It's a work in process but it's God's work so someday He will fix everything forever!
Lord Jesus, I'm like Adam and Eve. I want to do things my way. I don't listen to You. I don't obey Your instructions for life, and it gets me in trouble all the time. Help me to love You better. Forgive me for being such a bad "child"! Thank You for sending Jesus to fix my mess! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Value of Human Life

My heart hurt when I read in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune Review that a 15-year-old girl and her 14-year-old boyfriend buried the body of their stillborn baby in a bag in the ground behind an apartment house. This happened in April 2007. The remains were discovered more than a year later (June 2008). These two kids were "charged as juveniles with concealing the death of a child, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy." Not only that, the man who discovered the body and other "neighbors" found the discovery very disturbing.

What's the deal? Why did my heart hurt? Why were these two charged with breaking laws? Why are neighbors upset? Well, I don't know precise answers for the last two questins but I do know why my heart hurt. It hurts for kids who have to grow up too quickly in a world they don't understand and probably don't have God's truth to guide their lives. They were afraid. They didn't even tell their parents or a trusted teacher. In their fear they acted to hide their shame and guilt.

These young teens live thousands of years away from the Garden of Eden but not so far from the actions of Adam and Eve who also felt shame and guilt and tried to hide. God gave Adam and Eve the answer for their guilt and shame when He sacrificed a lamb and made them fur and leather coats.(Gen. 3) God promised on that terrible day in Eden that one day He would send a Savior. God made good on that promise over 2,000 years ago (the day Jesus died on a cross outside Jerusalem)! Ever since Eden when God had to banish Adam and Eve from the beautiful garden, God has been in the business of restoration - one heart at a time!

Jesus calls us to be salt in a world gone badly wrong and light to push back darkness (Matt. 5:13-16). When we faithfully do so, God does His restoration thing in one heart after another! Then God's Kingdom starts to be on earth the same as it is in heaven in one heart after another!