The Problem

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. (Genesis 3:7 NIV)

Adam and Eve may not have completely understood the implications of sin in their lives before eating the forbidden fruit.  Who among us really do?  One thing is for sure, though.  They understood it completely after their sin.  They knew right from wrong.

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." (Genesis 3:8-10 NIV)

Sometimes people struggle with passages like this.  “If God really knows everything, why didn’t God know where Adam and Eve were in the garden?”  My answer is simple.  “Haven’t you ever worked with a little child that needs to be taught?”  “There were chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar.  Do you know where they went?”  “Wasn’t there a chocolate bar on the counter here?  Did you eat it?”  The child might say, “No.  I don’t know where it went.”  All the while you are looking at the chocolate ring around her mouth.

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." So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." To the woman he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (Genesis 3:11-20 NIV)

Sin causes all kinds of problems.  Adam immediately turned on Eve.  Eve blamed the serpent.  Everyone is blaming everyone else as they continue to add sin after sin.  By the next generation, Adam and Eve’s sons will turn against one another resulting in the first murder.  Sin divides us.  It turns person against person so that humanity is certainly not loving their neighbor as themselves.

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:20-24 NIV)

Adam didn’t just turn against Eve.  “That woman You gave me” is a phrase that blames God as well.  When we sin, we separate ourselves from God.  To make things worse, when God tries to work with us we push God away.  God wasn’t being insecure when He banished Adam and Eve from the Garden.  God was simply saying, “Humanity will not be allowed to live in this state of rebellion.  It is ugly.  They need time.”  Then God gives them time to decide whether or not they want to continue living in rebellion against God and fighting against one another.  Later, God will offer the tree of life again – but this time only to those who choose to walk together with God.

How about you?  Do you see the problems created by sin?  Do these problems exist in your own life?  What will you choose?