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When tragedy hits, it forces us to ask some tough questions. Does God exist? Does He care? Can He see what’s happening right now? Is He powerless to do anything about it? I’ve seen people ask these questions during the pandemic. I’ve seen people ask them after the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. And I’ve seen people ask them after personal tragedies like the death of a loved one or a painful divorce. The place where I always bring those questions when they come is the opening chapters of Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve. Let me explain how I feel their account answers the hard questions that tragedies force us to ask.
1. The garden shows us how much God loves us
As you read the opening chapters of Genesis, you see that God has created a paradise and set us in the middle of it. Every time God makes something, He pauses to note how good it is. After declaring it good six times (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), He creates humanity and completes His work, and this time He sees that it is “very good” (Genesis 1:31). God blesses and empowers Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28) and generously gives them everything in paradise, except the fruit from just one tree (Genesis 2:16-17). There is no war or disease in the garden, only what is good. But the best thing about paradise is the love, peace and trust that exist between God and Adam and Eve. The garden shows us how much God loves us.
2. The garden shows us how much temptation deceives us
The only thing that Adam and Eve have to avoid in the garden is the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). Until this point, they know only good and God wants to keep it that way. He warns them that in tasting evil, they will “surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Satan begins his temptations, first seeking to undermine God’s words, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’ (Genesis 3:1)?” Then he denies that there is any consequence to sin: “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Finally, he claims that experiencing some evil alongside the good is just what they need to really start living (Genesis 3:5). Ever since, Satan has been sowing doubt regarding God’s Word, denying the consequences of sin and trying to persuade people that a little vice is what they’ve been missing. The garden shows us how much temptation deceives us.
3. The garden shows us how much sin ruins us
When Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they don’t immediately fall dead as we might have expected. But paradise is definitely lost. Immediately, they feel shame in their hearts and are exposed before one another, so they sew fig leaves together as a covering (Genesis 3:7). Their innocence has died. Then when they hear God, their first instinct is to hide from Him (Genesis 3:8). Their friendship with God has died. When God questions Adam about eating the fruit, he blames Eve (Genesis 3:12). The harmony in their marriage has died. God also announces consequences for Adam and Eve and curses the ground because of them (Genesis 3:17). Now there is pain and death where before there was only joy and life. And the chapter ends with Adam and Eve barred from access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). The garden shows us how much sin ruins us.
4. The garden shows us that God has a plan to deal with the mess
You might expect that the creation’s revolt would have just unleashed God’s fire and fury. Having corrupted paradise, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Him squish us like bugs. But while He does bring consequences for sin, there are seeds of great hope also. Since the fig leaves Adam and Eve sewed together to hide their shame made an inadequate covering, God provides animal skins for them instead (Genesis 3:21) and so points to a coming Saviour who will cover human shame through His death. Since the serpent had deceived Adam and Eve, God warns of an ongoing battle but promises victory through a serpent crusher who will be born to a woman (Genesis 3:15). And while God sends Adam and Eve from the garden (Genesis 3:24), the rest of the Bible tells the story of how He makes a way for humanity’s return to a renewed paradise. The garden shows us that God has a plan to deal with the mess.
The account of our beginnings in the garden shows us how deeply God loves us and how He desires for us to know Him and experience the peace and blessing of fullness of life and a relationship with Him. It also tells us that we were the ones who traded paradise for this world of sickness, death, and tragedy when we refused to find our contentment in what God called good. And it also holds out hope of a rescue from this world through faith in the serpent crusher, Jesus Christ, who through His death provides a better covering for our shame than any fig leaves could ever do.
Let the hard questions that tragedies raise take you to the garden and point you to Jesus, His love for us, and the paradise He’s preparing for all who put their trust in Him.
In awe of Him,
Paul
