“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:6
God’s encouragement…
Genesis 3 tells a familiar tale. Even people who have never opened a Bible have heard this story: Adam and Eve succumb to the temptation of the snake and eat the fruit in defiance of God. In that moment, paradise is lost. Pastor Scott (the lead pastor at my church) shared this passage of scripture in a way I’d not considered before: Eve believed she was doing good.
This challenged what I’ve always understood about the story. I’ve thought Eve believed the snake, that she was aware she was defying God. God had clearly said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden….” How could Eve believe listening to the serpent rather than God was good? Pastor Scott answered in this way: Eve saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and to look at. Also, that the tree could make one wise. In other words, Eve trusted her judgment about the fruit, more than she trusted what God said about it.
Pastor Scott’s sermon put the finishing touch on why I’d struggled to forgive one person who had hurt me. I wanted to do this good act commanded by God yet my declarations that I had didn’t hold. I kept picking up the hurt again, nurturing it in my mind and feeling anger simmer in my heart. Why, I wondered? Now I see that like Eve, I had trusted my judgment about doing this good thing. I was willing to forgive when an apology came, but one never did. My forgiveness was a transaction between the two of us. However, God’s word says I am to forgive because the Lord has forgiven me (Colossians 3:13).
When I embraced His command and stopped seeing us on opposite sides of a chasm of hurt, my heart was changed. It was a moment of illumination when I envisioned us both as people loved by God and redeemed by Jesus, people who had belonged to Him since our Baptisms. When I trusted that God loved and forgave for her, I found His love and forgiveness for me. God’s forgiveness made its way to my soul and I rejoiced that we belong to Him! My long-held hurt was released.
God’s teaching on forgiveness taught me that acting upon His commands is possible when I trust Him, even if I am in the midst of struggling to understand. He will focus His light for me, so I don’t walk in darkness (John 8:12). He will strengthen me to act according to His word, as He patiently helps me when I stumble (Philippians 4:13). God has shown me that trust is the opening He uses to pour His amazing love and goodness into the world.
Matthew 6:9-14
Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we also have forgiven those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
taken from ESV, New Matthew Bible
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Colossians 3:13
… bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
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Image: pastel drawing by Robin Lybeck: The Fruit of Trusting God
