Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.
AND then.....
Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
I decided to post both the Old testament reading and the Psalm (which is also in the OT…er, you get my can point.) I did this because the first reading leaves a lot to be desired and those desires are fulfilled in the Psalm. So yes helllllo temptation. Congratulations to meet you. I personally can never seem to get away from it. It’s always surrounding me in some form. And my how rationalization of our temptations is surely the work of the devil! It’s kind of a shame that the snake is chosen as the bad guy here in this story because, after all they are God’s creatures, too. But C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters is all about Satan’s ridiculously clever ploys to pull us away from God. I’ve lost count of the number of times too where I find myself wondering, “Ok is this just a challenging situation that I need to fight to get through or is this frustration and confusion I am experiencing the devil?” It is because of this that it remains so important to continually ask God for form our conscience and give us wisdom. Sometimes this means heightening our “guilt-o-meter” but really I personally find it so important to pray for the grace to have to clarity of mind and heart to know what is good and bad for your soul and in turn the souls of people in your life.
ReplyDeleteSometimes God provides this grace through the vehicle of people we know and trust to shed light on our decision-making and hold us accountable. However humbling and frustrating this may be I am always better for it when I know I have brothers and sisters in Christ looking out for my well-being.
Either way, I know that I still have certain vices in my own life that stand in the way of my spiritual health but I have also seen the way I have been able to grown in my ability to battle some of these temptations over recent months and years and I have been better for it.
The second reading here though is the crux of story because it just lays it all out there that WE ARE FORGIVEN! There is a song that plays on a Christian radio station I listen to that powerfully states
You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.
Praise God for this. And praise Him for the people in our lives that love us unconditionally and remind us of this.
Sigh...mistakes. And temptation. Things that my whole life, I've fought against desperately and sometimes find hard to face up against and admit. I think being an only child, I always was facing my own challenges head-on, feeling like I had to learn how to deal with my own problems and the consequences of it all. Yes, I have parents, and yes I would tell them what was wrong. But at the end of the day, I felt like what I did was a weighted chain on my soul...that I had to figure out how to deal with myself from the inside out. I found it hard to forgive myself and always tried to be better.
ReplyDeleteThe devil works in extremely cunning ways to distract and trick us into doing things we shouldn't do. As time has passed, I've come to realize the importance of people in helping navigate and pinpoint these temptations in order to reject them...especially in college, when I finally found a group in my Junior year to bring me back to the faith. The second passage is the biggest pick-me-up too...no matter what you do, God will always love and forgive you unconditionally. How amazing is that?? He is always someone I can turn to and confide in, no matter how lonely or bad the situation may seem to be. And as life goes on, I'm finding some very special people who I see God in as people I can do that with. It's an incredible feeling.
Taking this reading on its head, there's something about forgiveness...I don't find it hard to forgive. I'm willing to give people another chance. The problem I have, while rare, is forgetting the wrong they've done. While I think at times it's not appropriate to completely forget what someone else has done (if someone keeps stealing from you, obviously you need to be aware of what's going on), sometimes it IS good to take what another person has done to you and forget it...especially if that person is very important in your life and someone you love and trust. Of course, it pains the soul to get hurt. But no one is perfect. And when people have obviously shown that they want to be a serious part in your life, unwise would be an understatement to not take them into yours completely and unconditionally.