That's Just Wrong

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? Genesis 3:1



Genesis chapter 3 records the first question posed in the Bible. The interesting thing about this question is that it was both a question and accusation in one. The premise of the serpent was that God is a liar. The extension of that thought creates another question. “If He lied about this, what else is He lying about?”



We know the rest of the story. Eve listens to the serpent and both she and Adam eat the fruit and are expelled from the garden to a place where the earth is cursed and they must earn a living by toil and sweat.



When we look at this narrative it seems at first very sad and an incredibly severe punishment by God upon His creation. Certainly Eve did nothing so evil as to merit death. All she did was eat some fruit and then pass it on to her husband to eat. Is God so petty that he would use the slightest miscue against us and sentence us to a life of misery? Doesn't this whole scene cast a poor light on the God of the Bible? As we read on we see other evidences of God losing His temper. People like Uzzah, were trying to help God. What did he get for his efforts? “And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6-7) Newsflash to God – Uzzah was trying to HELP and You struck him down. How could a loving God hurt His servants who are just trying to do the right thing?



What questions might God ask of those who accuse Him of being unfair and petty? Perhaps He would ask, “Why did Eve disobey my direct command? And If I were as evil as my adversary says, why did I not just kill Eve and Adam right away? Why also would I make them a promise that Eve’s descendant would defeat the one who deceived her?”



Well OK God what about poor Uzzah? “You want talk about Uzzah who had already violated the Holiness of my presence by looking at the Ark long before He touched it. The question you should be asking is, ‘Why did I not kill everybody including King David who took part in this misuse of the Ark?’”



What do you mean God? “I mean that because of my extreme patience with Israel and the fact that they desired to honor Me, I let them get away with violating the laws concerning the Ark when I could have justly struck down thousands for not following the commands I gave to Moses. But I didn’t. The basis for all that I do and all the laws that I made are so that people can come to me by faith and receive forgiveness for the wrongs they have committed. Because of my Holiness I can’t stand in the presence of sin or sinful man. Because of my love for sinful man I have exercised patience and waited till the last possible moment for people to turn from their sin and avoid the penalty of death, just as I did for Eve.”

God was more than fair in providing warning to Adam and Eve, to Uzzah and all those who fell short of God’s righteous standard. He also proves He is love by providing for us a way of escape. So instead of saying as we like to these days, "That's just wrong!", and blaming God for the few times he has had to exercise discipline upon his people, let's praise Him for all the times when we deserved to be spanked but instead got grace and mercy.