When paradise is lost – 12 March 2020

… therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. Revelation 4:23

In the Garden of Eden, meant to be a safe haven for God’s creatures to enjoy, things get off to a bad start when the garden story goes awry. The man and woman God made, follow their own plans and get it all wrong. Through their own doing they find themselves exiled from Eden. Why so? They wanted to secure life on their own terms. They reached for the forbidden fruit that would make them like God. Sadly, instead of gaining knowledge, they are cast out of this perfect paradise.

This ending should be no surprise to us because their story is played out over and over again throughout the history of mankind as well as in our own personal history. We as human beings seem to suffer from congenital short sightedness. We seldom foresee the consequences of our actions and when things go wrong we shift the blame onto others, or blame the devil, or wash our hands in innocence.

Yet God remains our Father and protector. Like the Good Shepherd He is, God watches us and guides when we stray. He knows what we are made of. We are but dust and a speck in the universe. But the wonder of God’s love

Prayer: Lord, like Adam and Eve, we blame our wrongdoing on others, and even on you. Forgive us for we see not what we need to see. Amen