Being a father is one of the greatest blessings that God has gifted me with. I can’t say it has been easy but the joy my 5 children have brought into my life I wouldn’t change for all the riches in the world. However there is one phase I hear over and over… “but dad” The funny thing is that while the kids listen well for the most part. They often navigate life and find themselves on the wrong side of things. Knowing they have made a bad choice, they often make excuses to hide their mistakes. Just the other day I asked them to empty the dishwasher, turn over the laundry and take out the trash. simple enough you think, but one of the five felt like they were “doing everything” This lead to a fight and one of them broke a dish. When I asked what happened, the one who broke the dish explained to me. With confidence, I might add, that it would not have happened if the other one was working as hard as they were.

We often look inward to ourselves for our confidence, assurance, motivation, joy, and contentment. Well that’s just the problem!!!! we need to look outside of ourselves and to the only one where all these characteristics find their fruition. This is the point where we start to understand who God is for us. I will be writing a series on “but God” and we will learn that through trials, failures, self righteousness, independence…that God is for us and not against us. God has wonderful plans promised for us and we just need to get out of our own way and let God do what he does best, and that is being God.

^{Genesis 3:3}  but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

It doesn’t take long into the  scriptures to learn about our sin and what Satan has in store for us. In this verse we find ourselves in the Garden of Eden, a mountain, filled with everything that is required to have joy, which simply means to in the presence of our eternal, all powerful, creator. We are told that Adam and Eve walked with God, spoke with him and enjoyed a perfect Earth. This was about to all unravel, and in dramatic fashion.

This “but God’ moment seems a little different than the rest but we will unpack that over time. This time we have one of our first “law” statements in the Bible. God is telling Adam and Eve to not do something. That is to not eat of this one fruit, however in the next verse we are told that Satan told the couple that they “would not surely die” hmm…. who to believe? who to put your trust in? who should I follow? who has my best interest at heart? Most likely these were the questions that Adam and Eve asked…and to be honest we probably ask ourselves those same questions daily!!!

Here is the good and the bad… Adam and Eve made the wrong decision, but that was no surprise to God! We are told that God knows the heart of man (Luke 16:15), and he made a way to not only redeem us from our mistakes but also guide us as we navigate the complexities of life, with its inevitable ups and downs. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” This assurance emphasizes that God makes a way for us just like he will make a way for Adam and Eve, despite their choices. Their story illustrates the promise of redemption that extends to all of humanity. We will delve deeper into this topic in the next post; however, for now, we can understand that we all have “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Yet, take heart, for we serve a God who loves us so deeply that he was willing to send His son as a substitute for our disobedience and sin (John 3:16). This profound act of love not only provides us with a path to forgiveness but also invites us into a relationship with Him, where we can experience His grace and transformation in our lives. Embracing this truth empowers us to move forward with hope, knowing that regardless of our past, God’s plans for us are filled with purpose and a future that reflects His goodness.