Last time in our #PrayBoldGirl series we discovered, through Eve’s story, how to look for and be thankful for God’s goodness in unwelcome consequences. This week we are looking at how Eve could have prayed when she realized she’d messed up.
Eve is the only woman to have known what it is like to live in a perfect world.
Perfection is impossible for us to imagine.
We only know a life where childbirth is painful, husbands and wives argue and divorce, and many women, and sometimes men, are victims of domestic violence.
We live in a world where women struggle to find a voice, to be heard, and to be equal.
Eve also knew how to have uninhibited communication with God. She walked and talked freely with her Creator in the cool of the evening. There was no shame; nothing to hide. She knew God was near by and could feel close to him.
We, on the other hand, struggle to pray; to communicate with God. We often fear God. Not a healthy reverence, but an apprehension that if we don’t do the right thing, God is displeased with us, or will punish us.
We wrestle in prayer because often God seems distant.
Did Eve truly understand what she had?
Perhaps not, because when tempted to doubt God, when persuaded to question his instruction, when enticed to distrust, Eve followed through on the temptation.
And so sin entered the world, and we have life as we know it today.
But, let’s pause for a moment.
Even though we will have to wait for God’s promise of a new and perfect earth, we can have a free and open relationship with our heavenly Father right now.
Jesus provided the way for us to enter into a unrestricted relationship with God. We can freely walk into God’s presence because of Jesus.
Tweet ThisThe curtain in the temple, barring ordinary people from entry into God’s presence, tore in two when Jesus died. This symbolized the removal of the barrier of sin that stopped us coming directly to God.
Yet, we have to do something to have this relationship with God. We have to come clean.
When God confronted Eve, she had two choices. One, she could have confessed. Or, she could try and wriggle out of it. Eve chose the later.
How often do I try and do the same? There are issues I know I need to deal with and bring to my heavenly Father. Yet, I carry on as normal and pretend they’re not happening.
Or, I may bring a problem to God in prayer, but then I explain away my behavior. “She was mean to me first. Am I meant to just take it?” “She hurt me. My natural reaction is to defend myself.” And so it goes on.
Would the outcome have been different if Adam and Eve had confessed? We really can’t say, but we do know something from scripture:
But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins. 1 John 1:9 (TLB)
God is willing to forgive us and bring us back into that perfect relationship with him, because right back in the garden, God had already planned to provide a way.
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Linking up with Kelly Balarie at #RaRaLinkup and Holley Gerth at #CoffeeForYourHeart
Love this! Great reminder that we can bring it all to God – in fact, we need to bring it all to God. And in laying it all before him, we’re drawn closer and closer.
So true, Kathryn, and we all want to get closer to God.
Rachel,
This is a beautiful reminder of the glorious way to think! Thank you.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
We can freely walk into God’s presence because of Jesus.
How much better would our lives be if we just did that?
So true, Sarah.
I don’t think any of us know sometimes what we really have, that’s why the enemy seems to bear down on us, greater is He that is in us.
Yes, Rebecca, greater is He that is in us.
Great reflections! It is interesting to imagine what it would have been like for Eve to live in a perfect world. And it’s so true that it’s easy to make excuses for our sin and hide from God instead of coming to him to receive his forgiveness.
Thanks for your thoughts, Lesley.