If everything God created was good....then what happened?

For the past three weeks, we have been talking about the reality that there are three fundamental questions that every human being asks and answers. Every human being asks and answers the questions: Who am I? Do I matter? And why am I here? The answers to these questions profoundly shape how we view ourselves and those around us. The answers to these questions profoundly shape what we value and what we leverage our lives into.

We talked about the reality that directly related to these three questions is a fourth question. And that fourth question is this “How did I get here?” And the answer to this question is not simply an answer from biology. You see, even though we know the biological answer to how we got here, that answer does not satisfy the deeper question of “where did we come from?” in terms of humanity as a whole. Where did human life begin? How did human life begin?

And to find the answers to these questions, as a church we have been involved in a sermon series entitled “In the Beginning” where we have been looking at the opening chapters of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis.

But this series presents us with a problem, doesn’t it? You see, this series provokes a fundamental question. And that fundamental question is this: If God created everything that exists out of nothing...and it was all very good! If God created humanity to reveal and represent Him as they live in relationship with Him and one another... and it was all very good! If God created marriage to engage one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment that reveals and reflects God’s love for us…and it was very good! Then what happened?

If God created the universe and it was good, then why do we have droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes? If God created humanity to reveal and represent Him as we live in relationship with Him and one another, and it was good, then why do so many people reject God? And why do we have political unrest and wars?

And if God created marriage to engage one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment that reveals and reflects God’s love for us and it was good, then why do we have divorce and an epidemic of children without fathers and single mothers? If everything was so good, then what happened to make things so bad?

You see, there is something within all of us that recognizes that things are not the way they should be. There is something within all of us that senses that we are flawed and broken people. So how do we reconcile what we have looked at the past three weeks with what we experience on a day to day basis? How do we answer the question “What happened?”

This week I would like for us to look at a story in the Bible that provides the answer to the question “What happened?” We find this story in Genesis 3:1. Let’s look at this story together:

 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Here we are given a glimpse into an encounter that Adam and Eve would have with the serpent. Now a natural question that arises here is “are you saying that Adam and Eve are talking with a snake? Because, Dave, that seems pretty weird”. So who are Adam and Eve talking to?

The serpent who Adam and Eve are encountering is Satan, who had disguised himself as a serpent. Satan begins this encounter by asking Eve a question: "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" Moses then records what happens next in verse 2:

“The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."?

Satan tempts Eve by challenging God’s character and God’s motives. Satan basically tells Eve “Don’t believe God because God lied to you. You are not going to die if you eat the fruit. God lied to Adam when He told him that. Instead, God knows that if you eat the fruit you will become like Him. You will be like God and God does not want that. Eve, God is trying to keep you from being all you can be. Eve don’t you want to be like God?”

Tomorrow, we will see the decision of Adam and Eve and its consequences…