We were suppose to read Gen. 1: 24-3:24 aloud. Since it's mostly stuff that we're probably super familiar with, reading it aloud was suppose to help us get new insight. When I got to 3:21, I was so choaked up I couldn't read aloud anymore. Adam and Eve had just chosen sin. And when God came for His customary stroll through the garden with them, they ran and hid because they were suddenly aware that they were naked. When God calls out to them, they tell Him they have sinned. God then does two things - He first tells them the consequences of their choices because there are always consequences. But the very next thing He does for them is a sheer and amazing act of kindness that blew me away. No doubt, Adam and Eve did a rush job throwing some not-so-sturdy fig leaves together for coverings. They weren't going to last and surely weren't doing a very good job of covering. So God stops, and I'm sure with a broken heart, causes an aninmal to die so that he can use their skin to cover his precious people. What amazing love! It was man that sinned, yet God was covering for them.
It must have been such an incredibly sad day in heaven. God no longer had fellowship with His creation. He could no longer walk with them through the garden and talk with them, just spending time with them. In order to rectify this, He had to again cover for us all by causing another innocent being to die - our Savior. And the thorns that were caused to grow as a by-product of Adam's fall, were the very ones used to crown Him.
It's amazing to see the correlation between the fall and the forgiveness. God so wanted to be with us, that he would stop at no lengths and do all that was required in order to be with us forever. What an amazingly, humbling thought.
In the next chapter, God asks Cain why he is angry. He tells him that sin is waiting to overcome him, "but you must master it (Gen 4:9)." God told Cain that sin was master-able. We have the capability to NOT choose sin. But we have to CHOOSE! So in the interim, between sinfulness and eternity, He not only in amazing kindness provides for us, He also enourages us to fight for and choose our freedom. Overcoming darkness is possible! But He allows us to choose.
