Our text is God’s first response after the fall of man. In Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, we saw how God originally designed things to work but in chapter three, Satan sneaked into the Garden and deceived Eve. The devil painted disobedience to look very attractive to the woman and consequently, she succumb to his deceit and ate the forbidden fruit which she also gave to her husband.  As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience against God’s clear command, mankind has been faced with the tragic consequences of their actions.

God prepared a beautiful life for humanity right from the very beginning. There are a lot of things God never intended that we experience as human beings but for the disobedience man that altered the plan.  For instance, God never intended that any of us should be sick; in fact Sickness did not come from God. It was the fall of man that brought about sickness.  Likewise, it wasn’t God’s intention for any of us to be poor or miserable. Adam and Eve were placed in a garden full of extreme beauty and abundance. Poverty and lack came into the human race because of sin.  God didn’t even create us to die originally; death is as a result of sin. That is why in man’s interest, God drove Adam and Eve away from the garden after they eat the fruit because if they had stayed longer in the garden in their corrupt nature and ate from the tree of life, they would have been irredeemable like the devil.  What do you think would have happened if they didn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but ate from the tree of life instead?  I believe they would have lived in that state of innocence forever.

In this season, we are reminded of the promised Saviour. If you look at the way God does His things, this had happened many years before this promise of redemption came about. God had already programmed His intervention plan even before Adam and Eve ate the fruit! Some people have argued that, if God really wanted man to remain incorruptible, He shouldn’t have planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place.  While this assertion seems arguably valid, God did not create man to be a robot. He created us in His image and likeness and gave us the power of choice.

Man was given an elevated position as the crown of God’s creation.  So, when He gave us the power of choice and we misused that choice, the consequence followed. The Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” [Ezekiel 18: 20]. Having committed sin, humanity was cut-off from the life of God and thereafter exposed to all manner of tragedies. When God was addressing the Snake, He wasn’t talking to the snake literally; He was addressing the devil that had possessed the snake. He said, “I will create enmity between you and the woman…” Bruising the heel of the seed of the woman was all the pains Jesus suffered on the cross but through that experience He crushed the head of the devil and liberated humanity from the grip and bondage of the devil forever.

Looking at the long period of time it took this redemption plan to materialize, one would ask, why does God do things this way?  This was the same situation with the children of Israel in Egypt. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be held in a certain nation for 400 years. This promise was made even before Isaac was born. In Genesis 15: 1 – 6, God even told Abraham why his descendants have to wait for that long to enter the Promised Land.

“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. ² And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? ³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴ And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” [KJV].

This is to tell us that the way God does His projections is totally different from ours. God planned His works from the foundation of the world.  God is sovereign. He has His agenda, that’s why He is God.  If you insist that you will obey and follow Him only when you understand His ways, you’d not last long in the faith.  We must learn to be patient in our relationship with God.  2 Peter 3: 8 – 9 charges thus, “But don’t forget this, dear friends, that a day or a thousand years from now is like tomorrow to the Lord. ⁹ He isn’t really being slow about his promised return, even though it sometimes seems that way. But he is waiting, for the good reason that he is not willing that any should perish, and he is giving more time for sinners to repent” [TLB].

When the prophesy of the promised Saviour was made, people around would have thought that it would happen immediately but on the contrary it took thousands of years in God’s divine agenda. His system of timing and seasons is different from ours and we need to understand this. I charge us to cast our minds to what it looked like before the coming of Christ. Think of people who heard about the salvation that was promised and how long they had to wait for this to materialize. They waited in earnest expectation for thousands of years and it eventually came to pass.  Whatever God promised will come to pass. It may take years, months, weeks or days. Whatever time it takes is not of significant importance. What is most important is for us to know what God has promised and live in the light of that until we see it come to pass.

In Hebrews 6: 11 – 15, the Bible says, “ And we are anxious that you keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, so that you will get your full reward.¹² Then, knowing what lies ahead for you, you won’t become bored with being a Christian nor become spiritually dull and indifferent, but you will be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience.¹³ For instance, there was God’s promise to Abraham: God took an oath in his own name, since there was no one greater to swear by, ¹⁴ that he would bless Abraham again and again, and give him a son and make him the father of a great nation of people. ¹⁵ Then Abraham waited patiently until finally God gave him a son, Isaac, just as he had promised” [TLB].

When God made this promise to Abraham and his wife, they thought it would happen in a jiffy but it took 25 years. God still brought it to pass. Following God is not always a bread and butter experience; patience is required because many things God plan to do in and through your life will not happen the next day. It will require you to hold on to God and His promise and refuse to be distracted until He fulfils His word. Anyone who teaches you faith without patience would have to complete that teaching.

Several of us have prayed and called on God concerning the situation of our nation, Nigeria.  This is a nation that is so richly endowed but till date we are still talking about potentials because we have evil men and women who have refused to allow the nation to move forward.  But God’s time God will prove Himself and liberate our nation. Let us not get discouraged. Even though sometimes it’s difficult to understand the ways of God; If we don’t understand Him, let’s trust Him because He never fails. No devil is devil enough to frustrate God’s agenda.

QUOTES:

“When God was addressing the Snake, He wasn’t talking to the snake literally; He was addressing the devil that had possessed the snake.”

“Following God is not always a bread and butter experience; patience is required because many things God plan to do in and through your life will not happen the next day. It will require you to hold on to God and His promise and refuse to be distracted until He fulfils His word.”