10 March - The sinrise

Readings:
Gen 2:4-25
Gen 3

My YouVersion devotional today speaks on the morbid topic of sin: "The tradition of Lent - a forty day sacrifice - is one way of mourning the death that sin has caused in our lives." Easter is our annual reminder of the execution and resurrection of Jesus, and part of what we need to spend a bit of time on, is why He needed to be crucified in the first place. So even though I quite honestly don't feel like it, I think it's right to pause on the topic of sin a bit.

Genesis 2 & 3 tells the sad story of the sinrise. Though it happened thousands of years ago, it is easy to recognize the pattern being played out many millions of times over throughout history and right into our own lives. We still doubt God and yield to temptation when deep inside we know we're messing up and that we're going to be sorry. In our guilt we still run away from God instead of running to him. We try to cover our shame ourselves - pathetic really. (When last did you rub your armpit (etc) with a bit of fig leaf!) We still, instinctively, offer excuses and attempt to shift the blame to our circumstances and onto others. Paradise was lost and we still daily loose it. It is miserable.

In the cool of the early evening breezes, God used to come and walk with his beloved couple in the garden. They sinned and hid, but as the day drew to a close, God didn't stay away. He still came. He knew what they did and that there had to be consequences, but He was gentle with them. He spoke to them kindly, even though they refused to own up. He had to force them out of paradise, into the hardship they chose for themselves, but He made them clothes. Pain and suffering entered our existence, but He chose to enter there with us.

God didn't let the story end there. He wrote many subsequent chapters and He is still part of our story as we are part of his. We still live in a world of sin, but we are can look forward, according to his Word, to the great sinset and paradise regained.