Genesis Day 10: Is God mean?
The image we have of people affects how we “see” every action they take, and “hear” every word they speak.
One day, one of my managers said to me, “If people think I’m a liar, I will give them plenty of proof!” I was a bit taken back, “Do you lie that much?” He laughed. “No, what I mean is, they will hear my words through a filter that can twist my meanings into their meanings.”
The same is true of events we are witness to or read about. If you think I’m a jerk, then that time I didn’t open the door for someone, you will see my action as another piece of data that confirms my “jerkiness”. When an equal possibility is that I spaced-out, or had something heavy on my mind, or… The point is, there could be many other reasons.
In Genesis 3, God has five main actions:
He is looking for Adam and Eve. (3:8-9)
He speaks with them about them eating the fruit. (3:11-13)
He orders the consequences of their disobedience. (3:14-19)
He kills animals and makes clothes for them. (3:21)
He bars them from the further sin of trying to become like God, sending them out of the garden, because they cannot handle the temptation. (3:22-24)
In all of this, is God mean?
You really need to decide.
Some people ask, “Wasn’t there another way?” My answer, “I don’t know, but this is the way God—the God we say is all-knowing, all-loving, perfect-in-every way—this is the way God chose."
Do you judge God as mean?
I don’t. But I also don’t blame Adam and Eve for the way the world is. The way the world is, with all its beauty and horror, joy and sadness, love and hate, is a function of all of us, including me.
It is why we must see the first half of Genesis 3 not as something that only happened long ago, but as something that happens every day—something that I do every day.
God’s grace actually flows for me in this episode. Can I tell you why? He doesn’t give up on Adam and Eve.
He does not give up on you or me, either. He will pursue us, even to the point of sending His Son.