Author: Christine Wyrtzen

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:8-9  ESV

I love the sound of the footsteps of one I’m longing to see.  The closer that person comes, the more the anticipation grows.  However, I dread the sound of the footsteps of one I’m not longing to see!

When I was 8, I ate some Easter candy that my parents told me not to eat it.  They were saving it for Easter.  The next afternoon, I was playing outside with two friends and remembered the candy.  Thinking that it would be the perfect snack for the three of us, I snuck in the kitchen and snatched it.  Oh, it tasted good and delighted my friends. 

That night in bed, I heard my father’s footsteps come to the bottom of the stairs.  Then, the dreaded question came.  “Christine, did you eat the Easter candy today that I told you not to eat?”  I lied.  “Nope, it wasn’t me.”  Suffice it to say, he got to the truth and I was disciplined.

Dread is always the response to someone I’ve wronged.  Let it be an authority figure and the dread will be a ‘cold dread’.  Is there any worse feeling than seeing the lights of a police car in your rearview mirror after realizing that you just ran a stoplight?

In spite of their sin of eating of the forbidden tree, God came searching for them.  The heart of God is for restoration even though discipline may also be called for.  I don’t believe God came bearing the tone of voice that my father used, “Where ARE you?”  That usually means that you’re in big trouble.  I do believe God’s question was that of a heartbroken Father who asked the question in a way that conveyed, “What happened?  Where did you go?”

You might ask why I think this. I am basing this on the rest of the story.  As soon as man fell, God already had planned for restoration.  The entire biblical narrative reveals a God who pursues, who loves while spurned, who gave up His only Son to make a way for the disobedient and rebellious to come home.

To everyone who is running today, God comes searching.  If I am willing to come clean and admit my sin, I meet a Father with open arms, with a promise to forgive because of what His Son did for me at Calvary.

So much justice here is perverted.  The innocent are punished and we cry, “Unfair!”  But You, O Lord, know me.  Your judgments are true.  Yet, You came searching anyway for enemies like me.  Thank you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:7-8  ESV

Self-hatred is one of the most difficult things to conquer as a Christian.  When I mess up badly, I not only hate what I did but I often hate myself.  “I can’t believe I did that!  What a jerk!”  You’ve said that to yourself, right?  Can you imagine the self-talk in the Garden of Eden after the forbidden fruit was eaten?  Self-hatred and self-condemnation must have ruled their hearts.

Shame says, “There’s not only something wrong with what I do, there’s something wrong with me!  I’m deeply flawed.”  This has NO fix that is holy outside of the healing love of Christ.  He is the only One who says, “I hate what you did but I love you!”

What is Satan’s counterfeit?  “Love yourself.  You’re not that bad.  You may mess up once in a while but you’re a god!”  None of that is true.

I am a desperately wicked sinner but one that is infinitely loved by Christ.  When I sin, I can want – with everything in me – to punish myself but Jesus reminds me that He already bore my punishment.  He died for the awful thing I just did as if He were the person who committed it.

One of the meanings of ‘forgive’ is to send away.  When God forgives my sin, he sends it away from me.  He puts it behind His back and never takes it out again to hold it up to my face as a reminder of how bad I am.  He would want me to know today that I am not my sin.

As John Newton put it in 1725, “I am a great sinner but Christ is a great Savior.”  As long as I keep the focus on Him and the love He offers me, I am not plagued by a life-long struggle to forgive myself for something I consider unforgivable.

I can forgive others much easier than I can forgive myself.  Help me know how you love me in a deeper way.  Amen

She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:6b  ESV

The woman allowed the serpent to engage her, and as he did, she put up no defenses.  Was Adam there with her as she was tempted?  If so, perhaps he heard it all.  If he was distracted however, wouldn’t he have been shocked when he saw that she had eaten of the tree? Wouldn’t a sense of dread have washed over him?  And when she offered him some of it, wouldn’t he have felt alarmed by her suggestion?

There was a void of leadership in the garden and, sadly, there is a void of leadership today too.  Yes, there are men who pray for their wives and children before they leave the house.  There are men who ask God for spiritual intuition to understand the needs of each family member.  There are men who are spiritually street-smart about the enemy and how he preys on the weaknesses of those he loves.  There are men who pray strategically for their families.

They exist.  But they are the minority.  Perhaps the man you are married to does none of the above, even though he professes to be a believer.  Perhaps you are a single mother raising your family by yourself.  What then?  You have a bridegroom who offers all the things you need.  He leads. He prays.  He protects.  He pledges himself in enduring love and makes more vows than could be recited in any marriage ceremony.  Each vow is a promise He is incapable of breaking.  

The absence of leadership in the garden contributed to the fall of future generations.  The woman ate and bore the consequences.  Adam neglected to lead and bore the consequences.  Every baby born after that bore the consequences.  The dynamics of what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden still play out today in every home.  Though an ancient story, I can’t afford to ignore everything it begs to teach me.   

Help me craft the prayers that are needed for the men in my life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise… Genesis 3:6  ESV

 If Eve had regarded the tree as God described it, there would have been no sin.  He clearly communicated that consummation of the fruit of the tree meant death.  Wouldn’t that make the tree undesirable?  Once Satan appeared to reframe the story, the tree took on a different appearance.  It was transformed to ‘a tree that was good for food, a delight to her eyes, and the path to wisdom.’  Oh, how far her mind traveled!

 Could a piece of fruit make her wise like God?  When I consider her assumption, it’s ludicrous.  She kept company with Wisdom, knew Wisdom, and had only to ask His advice on any matter and He would speak to her.  She was going to trade Him for a piece of fruit.

I am wise only if I bow to God’s superior understanding.  I could spend my youth earning two earned doctorates and be a fool. I could be the cleverest wordsmith and still be a fool.  I could have an entrepreneurial gift to make myself a fortune but still be a fool.  I could be an expert in my field.  People could pay to hear me speak.  They could call me ‘brilliant’ and I might begin to believe them while the opinion of the One who matters is not in my radar.  I’ve chosen to believe that it’s possible to be filled with knowledge without having a covenant relationship with my Creator.

To put it in simple terms, Eve had God but, at that moment, didn’t value him.  She opted to trade him for the temporary pleasure of eating something that looked delicious.  That is the best definition of sin and I didn’t think of it, believe me!  Paul is the one that put it like this in Romans 1:22-23,  “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for __________________________.”

I know all too well from 67 years of experience. I see something I want.  Instead of walking away and keeping the beauty of Jesus in front of my face, I pick the fruit.  I turn it over and over in my hands.  I imagine its taste.  Then turn my back to Christ to consume it.

What is His love like?  In spite of how many times I do it, when I come running back and tearfully admit I blew it, He forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives.

You made a new covenant with Your death for my sin.  I’ll never get over it.  Amen

And the women said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:2-5  ESV

Satan’s original sin was the desire to be – God.  He was already beautiful, had a prominent place in heaven, but wasn’t content.  His power and influence were corrupted by his unholy appetite.  He could have organized a rebellion alone, but most likely, he didn’t want to.  He persuaded 1/3^rd of all the angels to rebel with him.  Because of it, he, and they, lost everything and were expelled from heaven.

What a mutiny.  His persuasive powers had to be effective enough to get angels, created beings who had only ever worshipped God, to defect with him. 

Isn’t it interesting that Satan tempted Eve with the exact same sin.  “Eat this – and you will be like God!”  Satan had looked out for himself in heaven.  Eve was now invited to do the same on earth.  She was intoxicated with the same desire.  She convinced Adam to partake, and he did.  What similar fates they, and Satan, would face.  Satan ~ expelled from heaven. Adam and Eve ~ expelled from Eden.

Why did they listen to Your enemy?  Why do I?  If I love You, then Your enemy should be my enemy.  If You call him a liar, then I should not trust one thing that comes out of his mouth.  I align my allegiance to You in iron.  Amen

He (Satan) said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  Genesis 3:1  ESV

Kids who want to break the rules at home look for excuses to do so.  They review what a parent said to see if they can find a tiny loophole.  They say to themselves, “Did they actually say I had to be home by dark?”   The word ‘actually’ encourages rebellion. 

Eve had never felt anything but the desire to worship her Creator.  She’d never rolled her eyes at Him, never entertained finding a loophole to God’s one forbidden rule.  Satan knew that if he came to Eve with an overt suggestion of mutiny, (“You should ignore God’s words.  How about rebelling?”)  she’d never buy it.  Instead, he knew he must appeal to her pride and ego.  Subtlety shaped his speech.

Discrediting God, with subtlety, is still his priority.  He knows God well but can’t be trusted to represent Him truthfully because he is a liar.  Satan’s native language is lies so he speaks them by default.  He (the devil) does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Jn 8:44   If he can get me to believe that God is ‘actually’ not what He says He is, then my desire to trust Him will be compromised.  Intimacy will disappear as I wonder whether He is ‘actually’ loving, faithful, and trustworthy. 

Expect arrows from your enemy that defame God’s character.  Be prepared to defend and protect your heart at all costs.

• “Yes, God forgives.  But do you feel forgiven?  Because he didn’t forgive you for that!”
• “If God really loved you, he’d have rescued you by now.”
• “You aren’t very good at this job!  Sally is, though.  He must love her more.”
• “Your son isn’t going to change.  God doesn’t care about him!  Look how long you’ve prayed.”

Whispers of lies.  No two sound the same because no two people are the same.  No two stories are the same.  Satan watches our lives like a hawk, sees what causes us to lose faith, and then crafts His comments to target our points of despair.   Each arrow is crafted with a language that sounds like us and feels natural and convincing. His arguments suggest stepping back from a faithful Father.  We must rise, be aggressive against His lies, speak scriptures about who God says He is and what He’s promised to do, and then defend the One who has not done one thing that is not for our good.

I will be listening for lies.  I won’t be passive when I hear them.  I will deflect each one with the shield of faith.  Amen

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. Genesis 3:1a  ESV

The Bible is full of stories that challenge my faith.  If I approach the scriptures scientifically, needing proof to believe, then I will reduce God to someone who only does and says what I think is possible.

I’m about to encounter a snake that can talk.  Is that feasible?  It’s out of the realm of my experience in the animal kingdom.  Surely this must be an allegory.  Also, Genesis doesn’t say that the snake was Satan.  Another reason to believe that this account is an allegory, the stuff of myths and fairytales.  I can be led into all kinds of errors if I don’t know my Bible and take into account the whole context of scripture.

John confirmed that the snake was Satan. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan…  Rev. 12:9

Paul confirmed it, too.  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  2 Cor. 11:3        

And what about a talking snake?  I don’t hear my animals talk to me.

However, I do have a wild and imaginative side.  So, I’m going to give you a snapshot of the Wyrtzen dinner table when our kids were small.  Picture a family of four around a table.  Two golden retrievers and a cat are positioned at various chairs, pawing the legs of whomever they hope might give them a piece of chicken.  When I wanted to have fun, I bent down, cocked my ear toward the mouth of a pet, and asked, “What’s that you say?  You believe the kids should eat more green beans?  Or, “What’s that you say?  Ryan should bring everyone breakfast in bed tomorrow?”  We laughed so much with this game. All kinds of convenient things came out of the mouth of our cat or dog.

I love it, that in scripture, Genesis 3 is not the only instance where an animal speaks.  God gave a voice to a donkey, too. (Numbers 22)  Peter confirmed it.  A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.  2 Peter 2:16   If I reject the account of the fall, I am questioning the inspiration of scriptures.

Randy Alcorn, in his book called HEAVEN, poses the question whether animals will talk in heaven.  Since there was ‘animal talk’ in the Garden, perhaps there will be ‘further talk’ when God creates a new heaven and a new earth.  Interesting to think about.

I celebrate You.  You are so powerful to make anyone and anything do the unthinkable.  Even the stones will praise You.  Amen

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  Gen. 2:24  ESV

It’s easy for parents to feel that their children will always be under some measure of their authority.  The control they once held is not released easily.  No wonder leaving and cleaving is such an issue for newlyweds.  Jesus also modeled leaving and cleaving to show us how it’s done.  He didn’t leave his parents to cleave to a wife but He did leave his family to cleave to His Father, a higher authority.  This emotional clash was, at times, stressful for his parents.

In John 2, Mary presumed upon Jesus’ divinity at the wedding feast but Jesus exalts his sonship to His heavenly Father above his sonship to his mother.  He had a radical allegiance to God’s will above his mother’s will.  He also felt a burden to make clear, not only to his mother and his brothers and sisters but to all the rest of us, that no physical relationship on earth controlled him.  His mother and his physical family would have no special advantage to guide his ministry or even receive His salvation.  His miracle that day in Cana, the one of water turning to wine, was at his mother’s bidding.

Jesus had to work against the assumption of his day that his physical family had an inside track.  I recall the time in Luke 11 that a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Jesus.  ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!’  But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

Jesus said, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and his wife and children and his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.’  Luke 14:26 Hate in this context doesn’t mean emotional hatred.  Hate means preference, deferring to the one who takes priority.  As adults, we are to leave the ways of our parents if what they expect of us conflicts with the voice of our Father.  Leave and cleave.  This is not an easy way to live but necessary for all disciples.  When we struggle with the tension it often brings in relationships, we are comforted that Jesus knows what it’s like and He’s walked this road before us.

Oh, the pressure to keep peace with family.  Teach me, Jesus, how to live!  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  Gen. 2:24  ESV

To pledge myself completely in marriage is to forsake former allegiances.  I vow to make my spouse’s welfare my priority after my relationship with God.  Parents of newlyweds will feel the shift.  Mothers will feel a sense of loss over sons who have pledged themselves to a bride.  If the relationship was close, the sense of leaving and replacement will be profound.

Fathers will feel a lump in their throat as they walk their daughter down the aisle to give her to another.  He knows she is on the cusp of leaving – and then cleaving to someone new.  She will dwell under the umbrella and shade of a new man.  Her quest for wisdom, protection and encouragement will all fall on her groom.

I remember the morning after our daughter’s marriage ten years ago.  Her bedroom was strangely empty.  I knew in my gut that she wasn’t away at college or on a weekend trip out of town.  She wouldn’t be back to sleep in her twin bed again.  Our house was no longer her primary home.  I felt the ache and it was magnified by an unfortunate case of pneumonia.  That just intensified my emotions.

When a groom doesn’t leave his parents emotionally, he can’t cleave.  When he’s consumed with bowing to his parent’s wishes and feels the pressure of them breathing down his neck, he will be too intimidated to take a stand when his bride needs to know she comes first.  Feeling threatened, she will ask him to choose in a thousand different ways and if he is not strong enough to know God’s ways in his new marriage, he will cause his wife to feel he can’t be trusted with her heart.

When a wife can’t leave home, she can’t cleave either.  Her security still rests with her father, or mother, and pleasing them takes priority over her husband’s wishes.  Feeling threatened, he feels his leadership has eroded.  He feels disrespected, betrayed, and rejected.  If she cannot cut the apron strings, he will feel he can never earn her respect.  He is not allowed to be a man.  He will feel like a child, her parent’s child.

Leaving and cleaving are found throughout scripture, and it expands beyond the boundaries of marriage.  I am to leave and forsake the kingdom of darkness and cleave to Christ.  I am to dwell under His umbrella and live under the protection of His household.  I bear His name and my identity is forever changed.  I am to let Him lead me no matter how different His ways seem than the ways of my former life.  He loves me enough to lay down His life for me and I love Him enough to respond wholeheartedly with my unwavering allegiance.

Strengthen marriages today.  Teach husbands and wives how to navigate new boundary lines with wisdom.  Amen

Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.  Genesis 2:19  ESV

It is far too easy to starve our God-given imaginative gifts, believing that sacred dreaming is reckless.  A few might believe that it even borders on witchcraft.  Does it?  I draw in my breath at the mere suggestion.

God formed the dust of the ground and made cows, cats, dogs, monkeys, and antelope.  Then he nudged each one to go to Adam so they could be named.  I love how Genesis describes this part of history.  “God brought them to the man to see what he would call them.”   God enjoyed watching as Adam tapped into his creativity. “What shall I call something soft, furry, with a tail?” 

I am made in the image of God.  He, the one who imagined the earth before He made it, infused me (and everyone else) with the same desire to dream and create.  How can I know if my imagination is safe to use?  I take Isaiah’s advice.  “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these?”  Isaiah 40:26  If my imagination is brought captive to prayer and scripture, then it is a gift.  A Spirit-filled life is a canvas just waiting for vibrant paint colors.

I believe one of the reasons our prayer meetings and personal prayer times are so dull is that we fail to use our imagination in prayer.  What happens when we take a scriptural principle and develop how it might look in the desert of human need?  The possibilities are endless.

• Perhaps God would kiss a heart of stone and transform it into a heart of flesh when I pray Ezekiel 36:26 creatively.
• Perhaps God would turn my speech into sharp arrows of truth as I ask Him to give me words like Jesus, from the prophetic words of Isaiah 49.
• Perhaps God would stand on the waves of my personal storm and say, “Peace!  Be still!” as I pray from Mark 4:39

Just as God brought the animals to Adam to name, he brings opportunities my way to engage my mind in ways that more resemble play than work.  Adam wasn’t a child when he thought up names yet I picture him having the time of his life as each animal came into view.  He pointed, perhaps laughed, and then exclaimed in amazement over God’s creativity before imagining a name for each one.  I’ve lived long enough to know a sense of his joy because many days, writing in the morning is like playtime.

Because Adam walked with you, his imagination was holy.  Help me use my creative gifts with more confidence.  Amen