When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Genesis 1:6-13 (NIV)
With that one bad decision in the Garden of Eden, our common ancestors brought more pain, heartache, grief, and evil than they could have imagined into paradise. Criminals lead our evening news with the daily shooting and stabbing report, “Live On Scene” crew showing the blood and gore in high-definition TV.
All of the corruption of man stems from this literal act of the first humans disobeying their Creator. It wasn’t long before the first murder took place and from then on…. For the things that Adam and Eve had opened, a Pandora’s Box of evil they never knew existed.
But why, since the fall of Adam and Eve, has man been attracted to things he can not have. Thousands of plants and trees were in the garden, but Eve wanted the only one she could not have. It is clearly human nature for us to want what we can’t have. The thrill of doing a forbidden thing, and getting away with it, gets our hearts racing.
Satan has a way of twisting our vision so that we miss all the good but see all the bad. It is clearly human nature, for us to see the worst of something and miss the positive things in our life. The first Adam, brought sin and pain and shame into this world. The second Adam has cleansed all those who believe in Him and His redemptive power to cleanse the world from sin. Jesus came to clean up Adam’s mess. Oh, what a glorious God we serve!
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis