Boy! Am I glad God didn’t put a time frame on what He asked me to do! I’m still on chapter 3 of Genesis. There are SO many nuggets of gold waiting to be read, meditated on, and applied in our lives. So many that we don’t need to rush ourselves. 🙂

In my last post we read about Eve’s decision to sin, how it was a choice she made of her own free will.

As we read further in the chapter we learn that Adam and Eve, after they ate the forbidden fruit, were suddenly aware of their nakedness and were ashamed. As we continue, we find that they’ve hidden themselves from The Lord.

Have you ever wondered why God asked Adam and Eve where they were or who told them they were naked? He’s God…..He knows everything so is this contradictory to what we know about Him? Not at all!

What we read here is what we see throughout Scripture. God gives us the opportunity to confess our wrongdoing. HE knows what we’ve done but we need to come to Him with an acknowledgement of our sin. That acknowledgment should be followed by a prayer of repentance.

Now, just because we’ve admitted our sin it doesn’t mean we don’t still have to pay the consequences of our sin. That’s the next step we read about. God’s punishment for their sin.

It certainly wasn’t a pleasant consequence….ESPECIALLY the childbirth one….thanks a lot Eve!! 😦
But they still had to pay the price.

SO!!!!
Here’s where my eyes stopped and got hooked.

Genesis 3:21

“Also for Adam and his wife The Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.”

I’ve read this passage countless times but, for some reason, tonight it grabbed at my heart and wouldn’t let go. I actually started crying.

WHY??

Even though His beloved creation, Adam and Eve sinned against Him, He still loved them, still provided for them, still nurtured them. He’d pronounced their punishment and now He was preparing them to leave His garden of Eden.

I cried because this is such lovely example of God’s forgiving nature. I thought of all my sins…(not one by one because that would take a VERY long time)….and I realized how much He’s forgiven me and still nurtures me through His Word.

He could have said, “Nope! Sorry but you chose to disobey Me so I’m washing My hands of you! Good luck!”
I don’t know about you but I am SO thankful He didn’t.

The picture this painted for me, what I related to, was one as a parent. There are times we must discipline our children. Do we LIKE to do that? NO! Do we HAVE to do that? YES!

It’s never easy to discipline your child. You don’t want to be the reason your child is upset; however, we all know discipline is a necessary tool in a parent’s toolbox.

After our child has been disciplined, what do we do? At least I do…..I hold my child, tell them that I love them, and that they need to think things thru a little more next time.

After all of that though….I don’t stop providing for their needs just because they made a mistake. Just like our Father in heaven doesn’t stop providing for us. He’s still there and He gave us a promise and He doesn’t break promises. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us.

I am so very thankful for that promise and so many more we’ll read about together in this path we’re on. Remember, seek to have a progressive spirit. That’s what we should strive for. To be better servants of The Lord than we were the day before.