Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV)

And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’
 cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

If you ever doubt that God’s patience is infinite, study this passage. When Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate,” God could have smacked him half way to next week. Instead of reacting harshly to Adam’s lame attempt to blame Him, God does something subtle.

In fact, His reply isn’t easy to understand. “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife …” Listened to what? She didn’t say anything. Her only line was to quote (misquote) the command to the serpent. Adam listened to the voice of his wife, hearing his own words.

See what God is doing here? Adam is going to have a lifetime to think about this. He’s also, at this point, clearly unsaved. He needs to learn and to grow. God is playing the long game.

Adam claims that it’s Eve’s fault, and God plays along. He describes it in terms of Adam losing an argument. But since the only thing Eve said were Adam’s own words, who’s the argument with?

God’s mocking Adam! Adam either has to accept that he lost an argument with himself or get into the details of what happened, which wouldn’t go well.

And God doesn’t give him the chance anyway. He pronounces judgment and ends the conversation.

Adam will have 930 years to figure this out.

Adam was undoubtedly wracked by guilt. So are we. We all make mistakes we regret, but Christians are more sensitive to this because we have been awakened to our sinful nature.

Thus, being a Christian has a surprising element of pain, though it’s a healthy pain. We are mindful of our mistakes and thus we learn. At least we’re less likely to repeat them.

It’s important to deal with baggage from the past. If you harbor regrets, turn them over to the Lord. As we’ve seen in our study of Genesis, God has plans that incorporate even our worst blunders and sins.

Yes, we should strive to do the right thing and to learn from our mistakes.

But there are things in God’s plans that are more important than the consequences we can see.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.