Day 2 – God Always Has A Plan
When Eve decided to eat the fruit, the only thing she knew was that it would allow her to get something she didn’t have. The serpent told her, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5
It was a sad day in the Garden of Eden. God’s perfect world had been defiled, and it was perfect no more.
God had given Adam and Eve everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. Before they sinned, they had a good thing going. Their life was perfect; it was simple and stress free.
However, as humans, it is just in our nature to always want more than what we have. We covet what is not ours, and as soon as we figure out a way to get it, we go for it, rarely stopping to consider the cost.
Nothing is Ever Free
A quote I heard in church as a little girl has stuck with me throughout my life:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” – Ravi Zaccharias
Since then, I’ve heard this quote used many times. Sin isn’t something you want to intentionally tangle with. There’s a reason why Romans 12:9 says, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
By the time Adam and Eve realized what they had given up, it was already too late. They fell into Satan’s trap, and they were used as pawns for Satan to get back at God.
The things we desire (Galatians 5:19-21) tend to enslave us, rather than freeing us (2 Peter 2:19). Yet, so many of us continuously seek after that next thing that we think will fulfill us.
Like Adam and Eve, we quickly realize that we are worse off than we were before, and separated from the one thing that will satisfy us.
I can only imagine how Adam and Eve felt. They knew right away that they had messed up.
Genesis 3:8-10 says they hid from God. Upon eating the fruit, they became fully aware of good and evil. God warned them not to eat the fruit because He knew what would happen if they did, and like any good parent, He wanted to protect them from harm.
Nothing Surprises God
Once innocence is lost, it can’t be restored. Once sin entered the world, it couldn’t be removed, unless God steps in.
So now what? Did Satan truly thwart God’s plan? Did Satan finally outsmart God?
Don’t you think a God that can set the world in motion, who can hang every star in the galaxy, and who formed us out of clay, could, with a single word, restore His creation back to His original design?
Yesterday, I said that there is nothing that surprises God. He already knew this would happen.
God had a plan from the very beginning to reconcile his people back to Him, and to one day remove sin from the world, and put the devil in his deserved place once and for all.
Nothing Can Stop God’s Plan
God always has a plan. Even when we can’t see Him working and moving, He is. He is always behind the scenes, or up ahead of us, preparing the way. And nothing, I mean NOTHING, can stop God’s plan.
We just have to trust Him and know that His plan is the only plan we should follow:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 5:8-9
This plan is wrapped up, like a present, in what we call the Christmas story – it’s what we sing about in Christmas carols. The birth of the Savior, a King, God with us. The birth of the One who will one day defeat Satan.
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8
The first time Jesus’ birth is mentioned is in Genesis 3:15:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
God’s only son, Jesus, would be the peace offering for the sins of mankind.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17
Nothing Can Make God Stop Loving Us
You see, God has never stopped loving us. He has never turned away from us, even though we continuously turn away from Him. Like a concerned parent, waiting for their wayward child to come back home, God waits for us to turn back to Him.
He continues to call us back to Him.
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” Joel 2:13
Tomorrow, I’ll go into more detail about the importance and necessity of God’s son, and how He is the only one that has the power to save us.
To follow the whole series of Journey to Christmas, click here: https://jenniferjabbour.com/the-journey-to-christmas-advent-series/
What do you think?