Good morning. One of the joys (I am being facetious) of parenting, especially smaller children, is answering the “W” questions. Those are the questions that begin with the word “why.” “Why is the sky blue?” “Why do cats have whiskers?” “Why is ice cream cold?” “Why did our dog Barfy have to die?” It is very tempting to answer all of those questions with some derivative of “Because that’s how it is, now be quiet and eat your supper.”
It isn’t very difficult to remember our own prayers and realize that many have been centered around “why” questions. “Why did my dad have to die?” “Why do good people have bad things happen to them?” “Why do I long for the things I know I will never have?” “Why is it taking so long for the things that I know are within your will to happen?” “Why, God, why?”
For many of our “why” questions God’s answer could begin in the same way: “Well, my child, it all started in Eden.”
Eden was a wonderful environment. There was no reason for the difficult “why” questions, because no one and nothing was sick, and people didn’t die. Everything desired was provided. Everything was, in a word, “perfect.”
But there is a reason that we now yearn for so many things, dread so many things, and question God about so many things. All of that is summed up, in a word, “brokenness.”
When the enemy came to tempt Eve, we don’t read a “why” question, but I think it is implied. “Why doesn’t God allow us to eat the fruit of the tree that would give us knowledge of both good AND evil?” “Why does God say, ‘if you eat of it, you will surely die?’” “Why does God feel He should threaten us in this way?” And ultimately, the colossal, granddaddy of all “why” questions: “Why not?”
The result of Adam and Eve’s supplying their own answers to those “why” questions instead of asking them of God, was sin. Sin brought absolute brokenness. Brokenness brought its own category of “why” questions that had never before entered the minds of Adam and Eve within the paradise of Eden: “Why do I feel shame?” “Why am I naked?” “Why do I feel compelled to hide from God?” “Why am I feeling this new thing inside me?” They didn’t know what it was, but it was powerful. This powerful new feeling was pushing them, defining them, strangling them, breaking them. It would be called “fear.”
In our recent Wednesday evening adult class, we have begun discussing Max Lucado’s video-study series “Unshakeable Love.” The book and video are built around considering what it means to live our lives while holding close to our hearts the promises of God. The first great promise of God that begins the lessons is that we are created in the image of God. Nothing else in all of God’s glorious creation is given that distinction. Many things in God’s creation are awesome, beautiful, powerful, intricate, mesmerizing, and wonderful. But you can’t even suggest that any of those things are created in His image. That truth is reserved for mankind, for each and every one of us. Every day as we live our lives, we are revealing the reality of the creator. We are his image bearers in this world.
In the perfection of the garden, that image of God shining from the persons of Adam and Eve was absolute, unblemished, and beautiful. But then, after what happened in Eden, things changed. The sin that claimed God’s beloved children caused them to want to cover themselves and to hide themselves. The “why” question again enters our conversation. The answer to the “why” is that they have defiled the perfect image of God and no longer feel worthy of Him. That is what happened in Eden, and that is what has been happening ever since.
And then came Jesus, God’s Son, our Messiah.
1 John 2:2 tells us what we need to know: He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Through the blood of Jesus, the beautiful image of God is restored in us. Our sin is taken away and remembered no more. The stain is gone. The garbage is gone. The chains are gone. The image of God remains.
What happened in Eden was conquered by His blood.
Give some thought today about how you, a Christian person whose sins have been forgiven, and is therefore restored to the perfection that God created for you, will reveal the image of God.
Vern