Adam's New Words

NEW WORD: GUILTY.

It was an appropriate word. It described not only his feeling, but also a status. He felt guilty because he was guilty.

There were so many new words since it happened. But these new words weren’t like the new words before. When he named the birds of the air and beasts of the field he would repeat the names out loud over and over again. The words made him smile and laugh. And when the Lord God brought her to him he even sang the new word. Not so with these new words. He couldn’t bring himself to say them out loud. They got stuck in his throat and then dropped back down to his stomach and made him feel NEW WORD: SICK.

The serpent had NEW WORD: LIED. They had NEW WORD: DISOBEYED. He knew in an instant that it was NEW WORD: WRONG. He looked at her and then at himself and felt NEW WORD: ASHAMED. Her face was different. She looked NEW WORD: SCARED.

They worked together to cover themselves, but after that she had left. He knew she wasn’t far, but she wasn’t close either. Things were different between them now. NEW WORD: DISTRUST. He didn’t trust her anymore and he knew that she didn’t trust him. He would have to NEW WORD: WORRY about that later. It was nearing the cool of the day. The Lord God would walk through the garden soon.

What would the Lord God do? Surely the Lord God would be NEW WORD: MAD. Maybe they could NEW WORD: HIDE. Maybe the Lord God wouldn’t find them. Maybe he could NEW WORD: BLAME her for all of this. Wasn’t this her NEW WORD: FAULT? Somehow that thought didn’t help him feel less NEW WORD: ACCOUNTABLE.

The Lord God called them out and spoke to them. The serpent and the ground were NEW WORD: CURSED. There would be NEW WORD: ENMITY with the serpent. Through NEW WORD: PAIN she would bring forth children. He would have to NEW WORD: TOIL to bring forth food from the ground. They were to be NEW WORD: EXILED from the garden and would one day NEW WORD: DIE.

As they left the garden, he thought about all that the Lord God had said. The consequences were severe, but he felt that somehow the consequences could have been worse.

NEW WORD: MERCY.

Yes, he would die eventually, but he knew he deserved to die immediately.

NEW WORD: GRACE.

There was one thing the Lord God said that he couldn’t stop thinking about. The offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.

NEW WORD: HOPE.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

Father, forgive us for failing to take account of our sin. We treat it so lightly and excuse it so easily. We do not consider the ways our rebellion against you adds to the brokenness of the world. We hide and we shift blame. We consider the sins of others to be far worse than our own. We even deny our sin exists and claim we don’t need a savior.

Father, this is a great evil. And we know that if we in the church regard sin in our own midst, our prayers will be ineffectual, so we confess our individual sins to you now.

Father, thank you for fulfilling your promise in the garden. Thank you for sending the offspring of the woman, your own son, Jesus Christ, to crush the head of the serpent. Adam’s hope was not in vain because his hope was in you to do as you said you would. Likewise, we have hope that we are forgiven and will be with you forever because you have said so. You have said that whoever believes in your Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life of obedience before you, died a sacrificial death in our place, and was raised to life again - whoever believes in him will have life everlasting. Thank you, God!

By your Spirit now, be pleased to align our thoughts, desires, and loves with your own, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.