Have You Ever Asked Why? or It Happened in Paradise

We have a dear friend who is an evangelist.  Sometimes he gives two titles to the messages he preaches…..different titles, but leading to the same truth.  That is why I titled my post with two titles today.  They are different, but it all boils down to the same truth.  Let me explain.

My Paradise is Cursed

I began my day in the usual way,  generally speaking.  I got up (which is obvious and the only way you can begin your day…..that is considered a Bobbyism to our church folks), grabbed my phone, went to the kitchen, turned on my Bible-reading podcast and started cleaning up the kitchen.  Have I mentioned before that I H.A.T.E. doing  dishes?!  Sorry, I mean, I STRONGLY DISLIKE doing dishes!  In fact, I STRONGLY DISLIKE being in the kitchen…..PERIOD…..but listening to the podcast makes the chore tolerable!  But I haven’t always hated being in the kitchen!  I remember when the kids were growing up that I LOVED searching out new recipes to try!  (The kids didn’t like it, particularly, but Tim sure did!  And being the good wife that I was, I fixed lots of new dishes!)  And, I also remember that I had 4 sets of dish washers, if you know what I mean! ;-)  But I have digressed….. 

So, I am mindlessly cleaning up the kitchen by unloading the dishwasher and reloading it while listening to Matthew 22 and Mark 12 where the chief priests and Pharisees are trying to find some way to kill Jesus.  Jesus knows this and tells a parable.  A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  Jesus used lots of parables in His teachings.  This particular parable was about the wedding of a king (the Lord) and the guests who were invited (chief priests and Pharisees) yet turned their noses up at the invitation!  Who in their right minds would turn down an invitation by the king?  This parable is sooooo rich and full of meaning, but I won’t get into that today!  Anyway, as I am pondering all of this and the great love God has shown to sinners, I am finishing up the dishes when I realize I’m stepping in water with my bare feet. 

For the last 5 – 10 minutes I have been running water to clean some of the bigger pots and pans that won’t easily go into the dishwasher.  When my feet started getting wet, I noticed water dripping from under the sink.  So I opened the doors under the sink to discover water, water everywhere!  As I am dragging everything out, for the second time in about a week, I noticed the drain pipe to the right half of the sink was no longer attached to the sink drain!  OY VEY!  That may be where the mess I discovered last week came from, but it was not the quantity of water I had today.  So, the pipe must have just been starting it’s leaking before last week’s discovery!  Why?

The Truth of the Matter 

I know we ALL ask God, “Why?” during our lifetime.  And I also know that at some point in time we have all probably felt like we were living in Paradise (“AHHH!  This is the life!”).  And we all know Paradise, aka Eden, started out perfectly.  But when you add human beings with minds of their own, and throw a devilish serpent into the mix…..well, we all know where this is going to end…..the humans were cursed, the devil was cursed, the earth was cursed…..and everyone was kicked out of Paradise…..and the humans began to die (Genesis 2:17).  I’m sure they asked God, “Why?” and God had to remind them that He had warned them what would happen if they sinned. 

What was their sin?  Disobedience.  God had given them explicit instructions to NOT eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden (Genesis 2:9; 17; 3:3).  As soon as they ate from the tree their eyes were opened and they knew they had disobeyed and they ran away from God….they didn’t go looking for Him!  But God came looking for them (Genesis 3:7 – 9) and God’s plan to redeem them (and those He had chosen BEFORE the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:18-20) began with the killing of a lamb (the Bible doesn’t specifically say He killed a lamb, but that is the theme throughout the whole Bible, so it stands to reason, IMHO).  This lamb was “without blemish and without spot” which is how He had just created them, but follows the theme carried throughout the whole Bible of Jesus being the spotless Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19) and, no, I don’t know how much time passed between the actual creation and the fall of man.  He killed the innocent lamb to cover their nakedness……picturing the covering of their sin and shame before a holy God!  So, the blood sacrifices began.  “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission” – Hebrews 9:22. 

Mark and I have been experiencing our share of a cursed Paradise lately.  The car needed repairs recently.  The tires needed replacing earlier this year.  His truck is sitting idle because it needs repairs.  We have had problems with the AC in the house the last couple of months.  Mark has had to fix the basement because of rain water getting in and it isn’t totally fixed yet.  He has had to make repairs to the bush hog.  On and on it goes, including today’s mess.  Who do you blame?  I can blame Adam and Eve for bringing the curse upon us all.  But, ultimately, I have to blame myself because if I had been the one in the Garden of Eden I would have done the same thing as Adam and Eve…..I would have disobeyed God and brought the whole human race under condemnation! 

Can I just say that this is another example of things not getting better and better but is an example that things decline…..the opposite of what evolutionists claim.  Other examples, to name just a few…..as soon as that car is driven off the lot (actually even before that) it begins to decline and sooner or later you are going to have repairs to make or oil to change or tires to replace.  Your body begins to die as soon as you are born.  Your home needs repairs…..need I say more?  The weeds will grow up and take over in your yard, garden or flower beds if you don’t take care of them.  This is all part of the curse after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden.  Paradise is cursed!

So, at the end of the day, when I ask God, “Why?” I remember the fall of man and the curse.  But, I also remember that, for reasons unknown and unfathomable to me, God in His mercy and Grace chose to save me from the curse of sin.  He sent His only begotten Son to this sin-cursed earth so He could live a sinless life, then die on the cross for my sins, and then rise from the dead to go back to heaven to prepare a place for me to live with Him eternally!  I can only shed tears of thanksgiving when I think of this fact.  Thank You, LORD, for changing my destination.  I don’t know why You picked me, but I’m so glad You did!

 

There is so much more that I could say.  I could write my own book.  But I’ll end this post with these words that express just a bit of the gratitude I can have in the midst of the trials of life…..

(Click on the image above to read more Thanksgiving prayers and poems by Linda Palmer at Heart Hunger blog.)

Or this prayer:

Thank heaven for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell.
While other folks go hungry, we’re eating very well.
With home and health and happiness we shouldn’t want to fuss.
And by this stack of evidence God’s been very good to us!

So, really, I’m thankful for…..
dirty dishes because it means I have food to eat
dirty laundry because it means I have clothes to wear
dirty sheets because it means I have a place to sleep at night
dirty floors because it means I have a home to live in
car repairs because it means I have transportation
Mark’s job because it means we can pay for all of the above most of the time and the Lord provides as we need more at other times.

Thank You, LORD, for Your blessings on me!