Good and Evil...

"And the Lord called to unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are you?" Gen 3:9

Adam was hiding.  He had sinned and now he was hiding.  Up until this point he knew everything good and now he knew evil.  He was ashamed.  I totally get all that.  I've been there and I've done that.  Shame, fear, hiding... 

This morning though I got a little better understanding of God the Father.   I hadn't seen Andrew in a few minutes and he was really quiet.  I had a feeling that he was somewhere on my phone.  As we all know smart phones can be good or evil.  There is so much out there that little people can stumble onto so innocently.  So, we have made rules about using them.   Usually Andrew would be jamming out to music or looking through pictures and videos. 

This morning I came into my room and looked around.  When I didn't see him I called his name after a few seconds he popped up from the other side of my bed and handed the phone to me.  He looked nervous so I asked him what he was doing.  He said "looking at pictures".  I knew if that was true he wouldn't be acting like he had been doing something wrong so I asked if he was looking at Pinterest. 

Andrew LOVES animals.  He really likes getting on Pinterest and looking at baby animals, but we have a rule (for his safety) that he is only allowed to look on the internet with myself or his older sister so that we can make sure there is nothing inappropriate that he would see.   The internet can be such an amazing good and useful tool, but it can also be very dangerous.  Little people can stumble onto pages with images that they can never unsee.  Things that can have very damaging effects.  As his mother I know that and understand that and try to protect them from all of that, but as a child he doesn't really understand.  He does however know the rule.  He broke the rule. 

God had a rule and Adam and Eve didn't really understand the rule because they didn't know what God knew.   God knew that if they broke that rule they could never undo the damage.   So, when God went walking in the garden looking for them and they were hiding God knew.    When I came looking for Andrew and I saw his face I knew.  It made me very sad for him.  It made me sad that he lied to me.  It made me sad and worried for what he could have seen if he pushed one wrong button.

In that moment I realized what God feels like every time we choose our own way.  He knows where our way is going to end up.  He tries to warn and protect us from what we don't understand.  He is sad when we choose to ignore his warning.  He knows it is only going to hurt us to choose to disobey.  We think it's harmless.  We thing no big deal, but God knows that "there is a way that seems right to men, but the end leads to DEATH."  The consequences of sin is death.   As a Father though that breaks his heart.  

When God sent His Son Jesus to die for our sin we can see clearly how much he loves us and how desperate he is to make us right with him again.   Right there in the garden He set his plan in motion.   While they were scared, hiding and blaming...  God was loving, forgiving, and setting His redemption plan in motion.  That's what a Father does.

I wasn't angry with Andrew.  I was sad.  My heart was hurting... because I know that he is going to choose his own way a lot.  I know he is going to ignore my rules (set up for his protection) and choose his own way and some of those choices are going to hurt him.   I'm sad because he doesn't trust me that I know better than he does...  and in that way I can relate to God the Father and how he feels when we choose our own way.