What Is This That You Have Done?
24048 QGA
Genesis 03:13 The Context: After Adam and Eve had fallen for the deceptive temptation of the Serpent, they felt naked, exposed, guilty and tried to hide from God. To the question, "have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?," Adam answered by blaming both God and Eve: "the woman you gave to be with me." Leaving Adam to soak in the blind self-defensiveness of his answer, God turned to Eve and asked:
God asks us: "What is this that you have done?"
Not surprisingly Eve answered the same way Adam had done. The only difference was that she blamed the Serpent rather than Adam. At least she acknowledged that she was "deceived," but took no responsibility for being deceived.
This question that God asked is a good illustration of the purpose of God's questions. God knew every detail of what had happened in the garden. He knew every nuance of their thoughts and attitudes. God asked the question not so that He could be informed, but so that Adam and Eve would both seriously think about and admit their personal responsibility for what they had done. Basically God was prompting them confess and repent, to say: "God, You are right and I am wrong, please forgive me."
God asks us the same questions, just not with the same direct words. Perhaps most often God lets the consequences of our sin do the asking. It was the fear of God and experience of exposure that introduced the question: "What have I done?" Their quilt demonstrated that they knew things were not working out the way they had expected. In the same way, the consequences of our sin is God's way of asking "what have you done." Sadly, our response is too often, like Adam and Eve, to blame others. But God, with loving persistence presses the question "what have you done?" He does so, seeking to lead us to admitting our sin and seeking the forgiveness that God so Graciously provides. Is there something in your life that God is asking you: "What have you done?" What is keeping you from confessing and repenting?
Genesis 03:13 The Context: After Adam and Eve had fallen for the deceptive temptation of the Serpent, they felt naked, exposed, guilty and tried to hide from God. To the question, "have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?," Adam answered by blaming both God and Eve: "the woman you gave to be with me." Leaving Adam to soak in the blind self-defensiveness of his answer, God turned to Eve and asked:
God asks us: "What is this that you have done?"
Not surprisingly Eve answered the same way Adam had done. The only difference was that she blamed the Serpent rather than Adam. At least she acknowledged that she was "deceived," but took no responsibility for being deceived.
This question that God asked is a good illustration of the purpose of God's questions. God knew every detail of what had happened in the garden. He knew every nuance of their thoughts and attitudes. God asked the question not so that He could be informed, but so that Adam and Eve would both seriously think about and admit their personal responsibility for what they had done. Basically God was prompting them confess and repent, to say: "God, You are right and I am wrong, please forgive me."
God asks us the same questions, just not with the same direct words. Perhaps most often God lets the consequences of our sin do the asking. It was the fear of God and experience of exposure that introduced the question: "What have I done?" Their quilt demonstrated that they knew things were not working out the way they had expected. In the same way, the consequences of our sin is God's way of asking "what have you done." Sadly, our response is too often, like Adam and Eve, to blame others. But God, with loving persistence presses the question "what have you done?" He does so, seeking to lead us to admitting our sin and seeking the forgiveness that God so Graciously provides. Is there something in your life that God is asking you: "What have you done?" What is keeping you from confessing and repenting?