Sunday: The God Who Reaches Out to Us
Daily Lesson for Sunday 1st of October 2023
God created us in His image and likeness. He gave us a perfect world, and His purpose was that we would live in perfect connection with Him, a relationship centered in His most precious attribute: love. But for love to be real, God also gave us another precious gift: free will—the freedom to choose which way to follow. Of course, God gave clear instructions to Adam and Eve about the danger and deadly consequences of disobedience (Genesis 2:16-17).
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Satan, in turn, deceptively persuaded Eve that she could eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but without any negative results. On the contrary, he claimed that they would “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5, NKJV). Unfortunately, Eve chose to eat and gave the fruit to Adam, who made the same choice. The perfect creation, then, was stained by sin.
That moment changed God’s original plan and purpose for the newly created planet Earth. The mission of salvation, which had been designed “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), had now to be implemented.
Read Genesis 3:9-15. What were God’s first words to Adam after he and Eve fell, and why is that statement so significant theologically even today?
Of course, God knew exactly where they were. Dominated by fear, Adam and Eve were the ones who needed to see what was going on. But they also needed to be confronted so they could understand the dreadful consequences of their sin. Satan also needed to be defeated. For that, God then began to present His mission: the plan of redemption (see Genesis 3:14-15)—the only hope of “reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19, NKJV).
We need to pay close attention, however, to the fact that before the confrontation and the promise of reconciliation, God came looking for fallen humanity. In spite of the seemingly hopeless situation, God essentially addresses two issues in His question to Adam: our fallen state and His missionary nature. We are lost and in desperate need of salvation. He is the One who finds us with the determination to save and to be with us.
Throughout history, God continues to ask: “Where are you?” In your personal experience, what does this mean for you, and how have you answered Him?
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The big temptation for Eve was that "knowledge gives power". The problem with that concept is that it is so easy to convince ourselves that it is true. So much of our education system relies on that notion to sell itself. If you know this, you will get a good job and earn lots of money, etc. But, even in the rarified atmosphere of information science, we learn that there are four levels in the information pyramid:
Data: the representation of information eg numbers, letters, bits, etc.
Information: the notion that the data has meaning.
Knowledge: The understanding that there are relationships between the information
Wisdom: The use of knowledge in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time within a framework of integrity.
Satan's great temptation was to cut off the top of the pyramid by telling her that knowledge was where God operated.
In modern education, we often teach up to the knowledge level, filling students' minds with facts but leaving the wisdom thing to maturity or chance. In that respect, I know a number of very well-educated idiots. They know a lot, but their use of that knowledge is a bit like a loose cannon.
I am not disparaging knowledge, but it needs to be developed in a framework of wisdom. The key element in the story of the Fall is that Eve allowed herself to be separated from God in her pursuit of knowledge.
In our modern world, it is easy for us to lose sight of God in our own pursuit of knowledge, even in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge. We need to think carefully about how we view and gain wisdom.
Maurice, May I use this description of the 4 levels of the "Information Pyramid"? I am starting on a 4 year journey with 4 students from the local High School. I will be their career coach during this time and this is a very useful synopsis.
You are welcome, Jim.
From reading the text in Genesis, I noticed that Adam and Eve knew good (you can eat of all the trees in the garden) and evil ( but not of the tree of good and evil. In the day you eat of it, you will surely die). They, however did not have the experience of evil. One of the things plaguing us today is that we think we have to experience something to know about it. The suspect was always on the tree eating the fruit because the injunction was not given to the animals, just man. That created a question in Eve's mind, why can't I eat too? This same dynamic plays out in the parent's relationship with the child. A parent might say to the child "do not play with the stove, it will burn you". The child comes along and sees the parent at the stove and starts to wonder, how come mommy and daddy can touch the stove and I can't. Everyday this thought testers in the mind until one day the evil one says, because he has been watching the child's movements close to the stove, "you can touch that,look at mommy and daddy, they touch it and it doesn't do them anything. They lied to you". The child touches the stove and gets burnt. Now the parent has to engage in repairing the damage done by the burn and at the same time, covering the child in love. This is the plan of salvation. James 1 vs14-15 speaks to this. Beguilment happens over a period of time so it seems that the devil was watching her actions for some time, to know what was happening in her mind.
By asking Adam his whereabouts, God was not on a search for data, information, knowledge, or, least of all, wisdom; God was helping Adam decide where he stood in relation to His Commandments, and his choices.
It was similar when God asked Moses: "What's that you have in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2) God was helping Moses see the power of a simple walking stick when commissioned in His service. When God asked Cain for his slain brother, He was answering Cain's question in the affirmative of Cain being his brother's keeper in the sense of man's duty to man.
The question to Adam, then, was one of his stewardship: where was he in relation to what had been entrusted to him (the Law, obedience, and choice)?
When God asks you and me, in the current day and age, where we are, He is questioning and guiding our commitment to [The Great Com]mission (Matthew 28:16-20).
Nicely expressed! The question is also about where we are individually headed. Are we on the path of righteousness or the path of destruction? We can ask ourselves this question with every moment and choice.
In the context of sharing the gospel, I think this serves as a model on how we can present the good news.
I believe its important to notice that when God caught Adam in sin, instead of making accusations He asked questions. Even when we have all the evidence like God did, asking questions instead of making accusations will make our confrontations with the offender more redeemable.
God doesn't fold His arms and say "let me wait till they realise their mistake then repent and come back to me." He's the one that comes. He came because He loves. And because our parents had sinned and now become ungodly, they couldn't see God's love in His coming but wrath (Romans 1:18). This is what we are when we look at our sins. May God help us.
God asks you today, "Where are you?" May we not be hiding but practicing what is good in the sight of Him, our Creator. And even if we hide, God is so loving and kind that He gave us His only Son so we could be reconciled to Himself in love! And this free offer does not impose anything; it is also to be freely chosen! What a mystery! "For love to be real," there has to be freedom of choice!
To me, the fact that God set up a system of worship where "Priests" sacrificed a lamb in the morning and in the evening and also had a list of all sorts of other types of non-animal sacrificial gifts and also Two main yearly feasts (Passover, and Day of Atonement); plus what is written in Deuteronomy 4:29,30 for "The Latter Day people of God," tells me that God is always seeking to find us and willing to let us find Him too.
I am really thankful to today's lesson God's mission was made before this world was created as if God knew that man is wicked and would make a mistake ...so we need to come back to the Lord for heavily guidance otherwise our human knowledge can't help us understand God's mission.
I'd rather be protected from evil than be exposed to (know) it even on the pretext/promise of being like God.
Let God himself contend with evil for us for He is able. In that sense (the sense of knowing evil in the context of Genesis 3), I wouldn't want to be like God, knowing (experiencing, contending with, suffering because of) evil.
As humanity, we sure didn't know nor fully understand what we were getting ourselves into when we fell for the bait (lie) of being like God. It so blinded us that it effectively concealed all the negative consequences of disobedience.
I've seen so much evil in my 41 years on earth that it's not an experience I'd love us to go through again as the human race, given another chance at life. Even with the promise of being like God. I'd rather we stuck to the good that we already had and not be enticed to quote evil, even again. Regardless of the perceived benefit.
I think this deception has caused so much damage. The devil really knew where to aim his punch (arrow), and he dealt us a very deadly blow. He bruised our heel for sure.
The suffering, the disease burden, the hunger, the poverty, the hatred, the injustice, the rebellion and the rampant deaths are there for all to see.