Good morning…
As we crouch beneath our crazy cover-ups (see God Continues Our Conversation), God bestows both boundaries and blessings, offering us a lifetime of personalized protection.
God Bestows Boundaries
God says to the sneaky snake: “In the dust you will crawl on your belly and people will hate you, naturally keeping their safe distance. You might nip at our heels, but we have the power to chop off your head. I and My people will win this battle.”
God says to the woman: “I will increase your trouble with pregnancy, heighten your pain in giving birth, and allow you to battle for power with your husband. When you struggle with strife, you will turn back to Me for comfort.”
God says to the man: “In rugged ground you will work hard to produce enough food. You will sweat in the soil, the same soil from which you were formed and to which you will be eventually return. When life is not easy and weeds and thorns multiply, you will call out to Me for help.”
The Creator says to the Son and the Spirit: “Now these human beings have become like one of us, taking a bite of the knowledge of what is good and what is bad. To keep them from eating fruit from the tree of eternal life, we must send them out of this Garden of Eden, helping them cultivate the soil from which they were formed. Until we invite them back into harmonious oneness, we will guard the gate to paradise with angels and flaming swords” (Paraphrase of Genesis 3:14-19, 22-24).
God Bestows Blessings
God does not leave us out in the cold, shunned from the Garden, unprotected, alone. Along with clear boundaries, God bestows blessings.
Bonded to his soulmate, Adam (which means “the man”) is given the honor of naming his wife. Adam chooses “Eve” (which means “living”) because God grants her the privilege of becoming the mother of all human beings who will ever live. Then the LORD hand-makes clothes out of animal skins for Adam and Eve. The LORD tenderly clothes them, much like a protective parent wraps a winter coat over a chilly child (Paraphrase of Genesis 3:20-21).
Now, we can come out of hiding and unbutton our crazy cover-ups, gradually letting go of our self-protective layers. We are gently clothed by God, wrapped in His loving care, as we make peace with the patch of soil from which we were formed.
For this is what the LORD says: I will extend peace (to you) like a river, and wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on (My) arm and dandled on (My) knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…(Isaiah 66:12-13a, NIV).
…Sue…
