After searching for hours, he finally found her sitting on the hill, squinting to see in the distance, past the fields and vast emptiness to the old place. “Do you think we’ll ever get back there?†she asked. “To the tree?†He had tried. Many times. He shook his head and said, “They will never let us back in.†She lowered her gaze. “Then we will die.†He nodded. That’s exactly what they had been told would happen.
“But He loves us,†she said. “Why would He want us to die? Why won’t He just let us eat from that tree and live forever?†The man surveyed the land where they now lived. Wilderness. Hard work. Storms. And thorns. So many thorns. “Do you really want to live here forever?†he asked. “Like this?†He rubbed the callouses on his hands.
She shivered. It wasn’t like the garden paradise here. They were often cold and usually hungry. Everything ached all the time. She was tired and scared. “No. I want to live there. Back in paradise. Like we did before the mistake.†A coolness overshadowed them. It always did when they remembered the mistake that changed their lives. But oh, that fruit had tasted delicious. Her mouth watered, until she remembered the strange foods from the thorny field that they had tried to prepare for breakfast this morning. Her stomach turned sour.
“Maybe if we’re very good for a long time,†he said, “maybe He’ll open the gate to paradise again someday.†She smiled sadly. Good? Every day out here they argued. Sometimes they even yelled at HIM. Sometimes she lied, and they often fought over small things. She had seen him whip some of the animals in his anger. No, they could never be good enough to earn their way back to paradise.
The woman wrapped her hands around her growing belly while the life inside her wiggled. “Or,†she said hopefully, remembering His promise, “maybe He has a better plan.†• Heather Tekavec
• Why were Adam and Eve sent out of the garden (Genesis 3)? What did God promise (3:15)?
• God loves His people, and He didn’t abandon us after we went our own way against Him. How did God fulfill His promise? (Read Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:7-14, 23:32-43).
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman… Galatians 4:4 (NLT)
Read Verses:
Romans 3:21-26; 5:1-10; 10:9-13
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