The Ugly Choice
“Be alert and of sober mind. (Control yourselves – be careful, be watchful) Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion- looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 ERV
“Eve.” Mary Jane texted. “We haven’t taught on Eve.” No, we have not, I am thinking. Because that story did not seem to end well. Maybe I am missing something, I remind myself. It is time I read it through again.
I start with Genesis 3. Adam and Eve have absolutely everything they can ever want or need or desire. There is one teeny, tiny requirement for them to live rent-free in paradise. Do not eat the fruit of one tree. Only one rule. One requirement. One choice. Call it whatever you like; without that one opportunity to prove you were trustworthy, you would be nothing more than a robot or a puppet. One rule to not eat the poison fruit of the one tree gave you the chance to obey God – or not.
The snake shows up for a little casual conversation with a few slippery inuendoes and the next thing you know, Eve’s emotions have gotten the better of her and she has decided Satan is a better dinner companion than God. Obviously, God is holding something back. Obviously, God is not as good as they thought He was. At least, that is what the snake implied.
All sorts of exciting new emotions started bubbling up as she chatted with the wily snake. A little curiosity, a dash of mistrust, throw in some intrigue and envy (that was certainly a new one!), a little longing for something forbidden, a little doubt, some arrogance, and a puffy dose of pride.
We know the rest of the story. The death would be slower than she had expected. The cost would be too high. The knowledge would be too disturbing. Fig leaves would not be enough to cover it. Adam and Eve would be escorted off the property, experiencing a few new emotions: shame and fear and regret.
But we can’t just stop with the door shutting tight behind Adam and Eve in their new clothes as the cherubim wave goodbye with flaming swords – you have to follow them on out into the ‘un-garden’. But I have to warn you, it doesn’t get too much better from there. Yes, Eve is thrilled to have created a son with the help of God (and Adam) and another little one named Abel quickly follows behind - but before the glue is dry on the baby book, the earth is crying out a tattle-tale wail to the Creator, and Cain, with blood on his hands, asks the sardonic question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
I am guessing by his response he must be a teenager. Maybe not, but can you imagine sassing God like that?
Let’s back up a little. Everyone was adjusting to this new life they had chosen. And one thing seemed to be apparent; they realized they needed to say thank you to God their Creator for His provision; they brought offerings. Cain brought some of his grain. Abel brought some of his meat. Cain's offering was not accepted. His younger brother Abel's offering was. Was it meat versus grain? Was it a question of offering the first and the best, or leftovers? We don't know. I am guessing the offering was not the issue. I think Cain's heart may have been what was unacceptable. Maybe he felt a little resentful of opening his closed hand. Maybe his heart was a little hard, a little unyielding.
God doesn’t ignore him. He goes to him. He sits down to ask questions with fatherly concern. “Why is your face downcast? What is going on with this pouty-face, Cain?” Cain doesn’t seem to be listening. He digs deep into his sad feelings; he nurtures and justifies what he is feeling until he has discovered a deep pool of anger. It feels satisfying to dive in.
God shares powerful advice; “I have taught you what is right, what is acceptable. If you turn away from that – if you turn away from Me, sin will be waiting to pounce on you. It is already crouching at your door. You must stand strong against these emotions. You must rule over them*.” Let’s look at the scripture – it is really important.
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6b-7 NIV
Sin. What a perfect word for a very ugly decision. It is a choice that takes you far down a very wrong road. It is something you feel in your heart and think in your mind and say with your mouth and act on with your body that separates you from God. And it separates you from others. Usually the ‘others’ you love.
Cain chose to trust his emotions. Eve did too. This is a deadly game - this listening to our emotions. Who can know the heart? Its intentions are deceit and evil all day long. (See Jeremiah 17:9). I find it very disturbing that our culture encourages you to follow the road of Eve and Cain.
“Listen to your heart,” they advise you. “Explore your feelings! What makes you happy? That is what you should do. Don’t live your life for other people. Find your own truth, follow your own longings, be who you want to be, make yourself happy.” This is terrible advice. Seriously. Think about it. What kind of trouble will you be dishing out if you only think of yourself and allow your emotions to guide you? What temptation will you be holding hands with?
We are grateful God didn’t leave us there with the paths of Eve and Cain as our only options. He sent another who would face terrible temptations. We would find ourselves listening in at another Garden – this one named Gethsemane. This would be another son of Adam, but this one would also be the Son of God. His name was Jesus.
He too would be tempted to trust his emotions. He too would be offered the opportunity to turn his back on God and choose another voice to listen to.
It was late. Almost midnight. Jesus had left a dinner party with his closest friends and gone to his favorite quiet place to pray. He often went there alone. On this night he had brought his closest friends with him. He gave them a very specific request: “Pray for strength against temptation.” (Luke 22:40 ERV) Aha. There is that word that goes to the heart of the matter. Temptation.
In this garden is the same snake with the same forbidden fruit of temptation pointing out how beautiful and fragrant and tasty it is. We must remember that conversation from the beginning of time. “You won’t die! How silly!” the snake dismisses God easily with a knowing laugh. “You will become wise! God wants to keep all the good stuff for himself. Trust me…” he hisses in his knowing way. We are hoping Jesus will not fall for the same old tricks that had so easily enticed Eve and all her descendants.
How often do we run to the cross to look closely at Jesus? Slow down, back up. Sit here in the garden with him. We like to think it was easy for Jesus to make the decision to die. Read this story for yourself in Luke 22:39-44. Look closely at the details.
He didn’t go alone. He took his guys – his closest buddies, the ones who knew him best to battle against this dark night. To be in prayer for him, to support him, to encourage him. He cried out to his Father, asking Him to change His mind; to take away the deadly cup of sorrow and suffering. To remove the cup of God’s wrath that no one else could drink. He sweated with human anguish, terror, horror, and fear – drops of sweat that fell to the ground like drops of blood.
He was fighting a life-or-death battle against temptation. The temptation to hit the brakes. To walk away. To take the other road. To do the wrong thing. To use his own power to elevate himself. To hit back. To listen to his emotions.
Jesus chose the hard difficult good thing. Jesus said no to his own emotions. Jesus said yes to the will of God.
This turned out to be a good lesson for the women we would be teaching whose sins are on public display. They are in recovery. They know they are broken. They don’t flinch at the word sin. They are in the process of owning their bad choices and the mess they have left in their wake, turning to hold on with all they’ve got to take one day at a time to repair the damage and reach out for forgiveness.
God has brought this same message to me three times this week. First, I was given the opportunity to teach it to women coming back from their bad choices on a difficult road. Then, using the same scripture, I sat in my backyard porch swing and wrote this for women who looked more like me, with their success-filled lives and sort of happy families. And then I sat in a cathedral of stained-glass windows while a very gifted brilliant woman shared her journey through the current popular movement of deconstructing Christianity and the lies these new experts tell. For the third time, I found myself hearing the same scripture with the same truths.
So, I must ask myself: Am I listening to the lies of the serpent alone in the dark? Am I having conversations that encourage me to take just a tiny bite of the poison apple? Am I doubting God and His perfect goodness? Am I trusting my heart’s emotions instead of God’s Will?
Every single day I am making a choice. I need my best friends to stand beside me and pray that we will not fall for the lies of temptation. I need to silence the deceits of my emotions. I need to spend time with my Father asking – not for what is good for me – but for what is good in Him.
Sometimes we need to go back to the most basic things we believe about our God. Our New Testament is filled with these creeds of the early church – some written within 3-7 years of the resurrection of Jesus. Here is a reminder of the truth.
This I Believe (The Creed) [Church Online] - Hillsong Worship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDeA-SAlklU
*Note: I often paraphrase scripture in my storytelling. When I quote scripture in this blog, I always italicize it. I encourage you to read scripture in context. The intent of my blog is for you to read God’s Word for yourself: to see how it relates to your life and how it always displays the Power and Glory of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe the scriptures are the God-breathed, infallible, inerrant Word of God.