Turn to God for help:
On March 9, 1994, a German tourist checked into a hotel near Miami International Airport. That night in his room he noticed a bad smell. But, travelers must put up with all sorts of inconveniences, he thought, so he slept in the bed that night without complaining to the front desk. The next morning, when he woke up, the smell was worse. So when he checked out of the hotel, he reported the problem to the front desk.
On Friday, March 11, an employee cleaning the room discovered the source of the odor. Under the bed, she found a dead body.
Life is full of problems and it often seems like the best thing to do is just ignore them. But, if we realized how serious and how close some of our problems are, we would take action. (from Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal-750 Engaging Illustrations).
Read Gen 3:1-8
V1. The serpent was more cunning than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day he came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
V2. The woman replied, “God said that we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, V3 except the middle one. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or touch it. If we do, we will die.
V4. “No, you will not!” The snake answered. V5 “God understands what will happen on the day you eat the fruit of that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.”
V6. The woman looked at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that she would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave to him and he also ate.
V7. Suddenly they saw what they had done and realized that they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.
V8. Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. They got scared and hid behind some trees.
In Genesis chapter 3 we see how the devil induced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. By enticing her to eat the fruit, Eve would know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.
Before taking a bite of the fruit, we see that Eva analyzed the fruit first (see v6). She found it beautiful and tasty. The possibility of her gaining wisdom was too much to resist.
This is like many situations in life today. Although we know deep in our hearts what is good and what is bad, we are often tricked by the devil into getting involved in bad situations. At first, they seem very appetizing. However, they often lead us into serious trouble.
Problems don’t just come into our lives. Either we create it, we invite it, or we partner with it. In this case, Eve invited him. It all started with verse 4, the first lie recorded in the Scriptures.
See, the devil just wants to give us a treat. In that way, we were hooked, just as Eve was with her first bite. Eve believed the fruit was so good that she offered it to Adam. She didn’t want him to miss out on the chance to know the difference between good and evil, to be like God.
Isn’t that how some problems start in our life? Often it takes someone we know to lure us into trouble. The devil tempted Eve and Eve tempted Adam.
So Eve’s evaluation of the fruit led her to eat it and offer it to her husband. Once they started eating, they both realized that they were naked. They tried to cover up their “problem” by sewing fig leaves together, trying to make something to hide behind.
We read that later that afternoon there was a breeze. Adam and Eve heard the Lord coming, so they hid behind some trees.
Like Adam and Eve, we often find our own ways to cover up our problems. Although we know that our workaround might not be enough to resolve your issues, we tried. We hope that what we try to work and that our problems can be ignored for as long as possible. We think they might even somehow disappear on their own.
That is exactly what Adam and Eve tried to do. They thought that if they covered their bodies with fig leaves and hid from God, what they had done would somehow go unnoticed by God. As you know, of course, that was not the case. In the following verses, we see that God holds them accountable for their disobedience.
Life really does have its problems. Some we bring on ourselves. Sometimes, we are attracted to another person. Sometimes we are victims of others’ clouds. How we react to and handle our problems often makes us who we are.
Our goal should be to seek solutions that never question our character, solutions that uphold God’s commandments at the highest level. possible level. I know this is sometimes hard to do. But, with God’s help, it is not impossible.
When we are in trouble, we want the easiest possible solution to end those problems. We see that simple intent in our Scripture, when Adam and Eve sewed together leaves to cover themselves. But, as you no doubt know, his effort was not good enough.
What they had done required more than human ingenuity. She needed the hand of God. That is why the Lord covered them with animal skins. This was the solution to his sin until the fulfillment of the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So how do we handle our problems from a biblical perspective?
1. Accept the problem
Once we are in trouble, we must do everything we can to accept the responsibility that trouble brings. Responsibility will not only grow our maturity, but our self-discipline and character will be strengthened.
Once the problem is at our front door, no matter how it has developed, we must deal with it. If we do not recognize and accept the problem, we will have serious difficulties in solving our problem.
Let’s look again at the example of Adam and Eve. When they realized that they had broken God’s commandment, they did not accept that they had a problem on their hands. They did the wrong thing. They tried to cover it up.
That’s just what we do, too. We are no different from Adam and Eve. I remember when he was a child. I was playing in the living room and I broke one of the mommy figurines on the shelf. Rather than address the problem, I put the figurine behind the encyclopedia books, so my mother wouldn’t see it. I pretended nothing was wrong, left the place and went out to play. Quickly, my problem was forgotten.
Well, it didn’t take long for Mom to realize her yellow dog figure was missing. And it didn’t take long for her to realize that some of the encyclopedias were not aligned with the others. You can probably guess the rest of the story. I will not forget.
2. Don’t play the blame game
Let’s continue with Genesis 3. God was walking in the garden. He called Adam and asked him what he had done. Immediately, Adam and Eve began blaming each other, along with the serpent, for the trouble they now found themselves in.
We are like Adam and Eve. We do the same. Usually when we are in a mess, we try to find ways to blame others. We do this rather than accept responsibility for our own actions.
One time you have to wonder what if Adam, when confronted, had acted differently. What if he had confessed, instead of blaming God and then Eve for his problem? What if he had said to God, “I was wrong. I ate from the tree of knowledge”? Would life have been different? Would God have forgiven Adam at that time?
Many times we try to find a cause to get out of trouble. Finding someone to blame (and then blaming them) can give us a surrogate sense of having solved a problem, even when we haven’t fully understood cause and effect.
It takes a great person, externally and internally, to accept that he has been wrong. This does not mean that we should never blame other people. Sometimes others are to blame. They need to know and take responsibility. But being able to accept responsibility, when it’s the right thing to do, means that we actually become less helpless and less passive.
How do you react when things go wrong? Do you feel a sense of shock?