Adam’s rejection

It goes without saying that our society, today, is more than just a little messed up. We have, as a society, become complacent, when it comes to relationships.

People seem to have little regard for things like commitment and respect. Fewer and fewer people are even bothering with getting married anymore, they seem content with living together, for a time, but are not willing to stay through the tough times. The moment something doesn’t go their way, they walk out on their partner and “shack up” with someone else.

The same thing holds True with church attendance. It is all too common for people to engage in what is called “Church Hopping” or more precise “Church Shopping”. They go from one church to another, to another but never settle in one, long enough, to develop a lasting relationship. The moment something is said, or done, that they are not comfortable with, they leave.

This type of attitude would seem to indicate a possible fear of rejection. They can’t handle being rejected, so they choose to do the rejecting first, so they won’t get hurt. The Truth is, that they get hurt anyway, in fact, everyone involved gets hurt. So, in the process, they end up spreading hurt feelings everywhere they go.

Have you ever wondered where this kind of behavior started from? It seems to us that people have been rejecting one another for as long as there have been people. We are constantly made aware of the fact that many husbands and wives cheat on one another (even in many churches). They don’t wish to leave their partner, but they are attracted to, or seduced by, another, leaving their partner feeling like they aren’t good enough.

Would it surprise you to find that the origin of this behavior goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden? That’s right, all the way back to Adam & Eve. But, since there were only 2 people, on the whole planet, how was it possible for one of them to “cheat” on the other? Were they not the “Perfect” couple? Good questions, let’s see what the Bible has to say about that…

Genesis 3:1 Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

Here satan had entered the snake and began to deceive Eve into doubting (not Trusting) God and her husband (Adam) by questioning the Word of God, as told her by Adam.

Genesis 2 ¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

At this point, Eve had not, as yet, been Created so, it stands to reason that Adam told her what God had said, therefore, she was Trusting this creature over her husband and over God.

It isn’t stated, in the Bible, but, it seems, Adam would have felt rejected because she doubted what he told her. Then, she seduced him, into doubting God, by giving him the fruit to eat.

We can, only, speculate what he was thinking at that moment but, it would seem that he was, either, overwhemed with the grief of being rejected, or he chose to Trust her judgement, rather than Trusting and Obeying God’s Word, and chose to take and eat the fruit.

Later, when God appeared to them, they, both, hid from God because they knew they had done wrong and were, now, rejecting God (from seeing them) and, thus, rejecting themselves because they felt unworthy. At this point, Adam rejected both, his wife and God, by pointing a finger at Eve and at God by saying, “The woman that You gave me”.

Genesis 3 ¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

And, of course, she passed the blame onto the serpent but, the Truth is, they both chose to disobey and paid a price for it by being ejected from the Garden and needing to struggle, in life, feeling rejected by God.

Just to be clear, God did not reject them, in fact, he made a covering for them, of animal skins, and cut a covenant with them (read the rest of the chapter). God’s only reason for ejecting them, from the garden, was to keep them from the tree of Life (which would allow them to live forever, as long as they kept eating it’s fruit), so to keep them from living forever in sin.

This, by the way, was the first blood sacrifice, which would cover their sin, without which they would have had no access to God.