In the beginning God made everything perfect and joyous. He created everything out of nothing. God breathed life into Adam and Eve. But ..there was a day when everything went wrong.
Satan was once the most beautiful angel, but he didn’t want to be just an angel – he wanted to be God.He was seething with anger after his own fall and wanted to stop God’s plan for Adam and Eve and creation.
So, Satan taunts Eve:” Does God really love you? Poor you, why won’t he let you eat the nice, juicy, delicious fruit? Perhaps God does not want you to be happy.”Satan’s words hissed into Eve’s ears, sank deep into her heart, like poison.“Does God really love me? Does he love me?
The serpent whispered: “Just trust me, you don’t need God”. A terrible lie came into the world and would live on in every human heart. Satan still whispers to me “God doesn’t love you”
Eve and Adam believed Satan and acted on it. Now there was a chill in the air. Now they felt naked and wrong and they hid. God called them. Usually Adam and Eve loved to hear God’s voice and would run to him. But this time, they ran away from Him and hid in the shadows. A terrible pain came into God’s heart.
His children hadn’t just broken a rule; they had broken God’s heart.
God’s creation would start to unravel, come undone, go wrong, fall. From now on everything would die – even though it was supposed to last forever. Sin had come into God’s perfect world.
Adam and Eve’s hearts broke and would not work properly anymore.
“You will have to leave the garden now”, God told his children, his eyes filling with tears. “This is no longer your true home, it is not the place for you anymore.”
But before they left the garden, God made clothes for his children to cover them. Then he sent them out of the garden, out of their home.
But this is not the end of the story. God loved His children too much to let the story end there. God had a plan – a magnificent dream. One day he would make the world their perfect home again. And one day, He would wipe away every tear from their eyes.
In spite of everything, God would love his children with a Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever love.
And though they would forget Him and run from Him, deep in their hearts, God’s children would miss him always and long for him – like lost children longing for their home.
Before they left the garden, God gave a promise to Adam and Eve. “I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I’m going to do battle against the snake. I’m coming back for you!” And He would. One day, God himself would come. And Jesus did come!
From "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones
