"Where Are You?"
Genesis 3:9
God's question could have created in Adam and Eve a moment of self-reflection. "Where are you" could have been understood to mean, "what have you done," or "what were you thinking," or "what sense does it make to hide from God?"
Shame, guilt, blaming--these struggles all flow from disobedience. We don't want to be seen in our nakedness, that is, we don't want to be seen as we are. Exposure of sin and the destruction of innocence cause us to hide from the One who can clothe us, give us a future that accommodates our sin, and prepares a way for us to be forgiven and restored.
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I like reading mysteries. Occasionally, I come upon a sentence or two that strikes me as an insight to life. Anne Perry, speaking through the character, Elena, wrote, "You do not need to believe evil, only to use its methods. You will get accustomed to them, until eventually they are not your last choice, but your first. For a while you can justify it to yourself, and then eventually you will not bother. You have forgotten what you are fighting for; now winning is the only objective! And the more you win, the more you justify it, until the whole idea of right and wrong disappears and only winning matters."
Anne Perry wrote the words above in the 21st century. Here is another insight on the subject of evil from the 17the century. Jacob Spener, called the father of pietism, wrote, "The evil circumstances of our time are . . .to be borne with compassion rather than bewailed with anger."
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Grandchildren. Today our four-year-old grandson came for a visit. He, like all the four year old siblings before him--except Mr. Happy--struggles or have struggled with disequilibrium, a nice way of saying, his anger can get the best of him. I continue to be amazed at the parenting skills of my son and daughter-in-law. They have found a way to help with disequilibrium. Today our grandson brought with him a timing clock and a book mark and a series of stickers. He told us that we should time him for fifteen minutes. If he managed, he said, "to go without shouting or hitting or saying bad words or making a mean face," he was to receive a sticker to put on his bookmark. We dutifully timed him, and he went more than three hours! He got stickers every fifteen minutes for the whole time he was with us.
