I wonder if, on the day she and her husband were banned from the Garden, Eve blamed herself for the whole mess. I wonder: did she walk around with guilt for the rest of her days? Did she labour in the weeds and soil, beneath the hot sun, thinking “I bet Adam is still blaming me for this!” When Cain and Abel were young boys, did she tell them about that day, or did she bury the memory away with her hopes and dreams? Did she long to tell them about the long walks she and Adam used to take with God in the cool of the evening?
And, what about Adam? He, at first, blamed Eve, but I wonder if he ever took his share of responsibility or if he harboured resentment toward her. Well, they did have children so they must have eventually made up … or pretended to. I wonder though, did Adam would have spent his days feeling guilty, feeling as if he had ruined his life and the lives of Eve and his children? Did he ever think to himself, “Why didn’t I do the right thing!?”?
Did either of them, as parents, ever feel responsible for their poor choices; did they ever pause to reflect upon the kind of lives their children could have lived, if they hadn’t been banished? And, if they did – did they dwell on it? Did they lived under the indictment of guilt? More pertinent perhaps is the question: why would any one of us live under the yoke of our past poor choices?
I’ve done it; I do it. I try not to. It seems that sometimes it’s just more powerful than I. I allow it. I know that the Good News is: I don’t have to live in guilt or shame because of sin anymore – perhaps the serpent that speaks to me has convinced me that the price for my sin will never be paid.
The truth is: God did not banish them because He no longer loved them, it is for that reason He spared them. He gave them life – albeit not an easy life - but I don’t think He ever expected, nor wanted, them to re-live or live in the past. As a loving Parent, God allowed them to suffer the consequences of their actions. Adam and Eve learned their parenting skills from Him. They allowed Cain to make his own decisions. He was raised in the same household as Abel. It all came down to three things in the end: 1) the children were raised with love; 2) the children were permitted to make their own decisions; 3) Adam and Eve (as far as we know) made no attempts to avert the consequences of Cain’s decisions.
The fact is: my sin has already been paid for – in full. I have been found NOT GUILTY. Now all I have to do is to live in that verdict and allow my children to do the same.
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:13-14.
