saltandlight

“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Genesis 2:18

It’s women’s history month. So, I have been thinking about the first woman in history, Eve. Eve gets a bad rap sometimes. We think of her as the one that messed everything up for the rest of us. She was fooled by the serpent. She convinced her husband to go down with her. She fell for Satan’s trick. She did the one thing that God told them not to do. Do you honestly think you would have done any different?

Do you think God was surprised by what Eve did? Do you think God is ever surprised? God knew what was going to happen. It’s not like he created the universe without knowing what would happen. He’s not a “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of God. He has had everything planned from the very beginning. He knew Eve and Adam were going to make this mistake. And He had a plan for their mistake. He made them imperfect, otherwise the mistake would not have happened.

Now, put yourself in Eve’s place. You have this perfect world, perfect life, perfect husband. Everything is great. But you are not perfect. Somewhere deep in your heart, there is imperfection. So you are tempted by Satan to do the one thing that God told you not to do. He lied to you, he tricked you. I can’t imagine how she felt when she realized she had been duped.

How many times have you been tricked by the devil? There are too many to count for me! And I usually feel pretty crummy when I realize the mistake I have made. Just like Eve, a lot of people have been hurt by my mistakes and bad decisions. More than likely we have been in a place and time in our lives when everything was going good, but then we make a mistake. We mess things up. So, we can’t be too hard on Eve. She was not perfect, but God still used her.

The thing about God is that He can take all of our mistakes, and turn them into something good. If Eve hadn’t messed up, if she had not fell for Satan’s lies, everything would have remained perfect. No punishment would have come. Do you think that would have stopped Satan from trying again? He would have kept on trying and trying until someone fell for his trickery. We can learn a lot from Eve. And all of the stories in God’s word of people that messed up. People that were redeemed and still used by God.

How would we ever know how good God is, if we hadn’t messed up and been redeemed? Over and over again, he redeems us. He helps us up when we fall down. Like Eve, sometimes it takes us making the worst mistake of our life for us to really turn things around and follow Him. When you are at rock bottom and the ONLY one who can help you is God himself. When you have no one else to turn to. And when you start really trusting God. That is when miracles start happening!

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Genesis 50:20

God will take your mess and turn it into His message. I know that is cliche but it’s also true! He knows we are going to mess up, and He also knows if we are going to repent and turn to Him to make things better. He knows when we are going to stop running from Him and finally get things right. Even as a Christian for 30+ years, I still mess up. I still need His help daily. “He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.” This life that He gives to us can be beautiful. God continues to pursue us because He wants better for us. He has a wonderful plan for your life, if you would just trust Him!

Lord, I thank you for my trials as well as my triumphs. You work it all out for my good. Lord, you know what a mess I really am, and you still pursue me. You still choose to use me for your glory. And you still bless me in ways that I never even expect. God you are so good! Lord I pray that we never forget Eve and the sacrifice that she made. The mess that she made that you knew was going to happen. I thank you for our messes. Lord if we never had any problems, we wouldn’t understand how good you are! You are truly amazing! I love you Father. In Jesus holy name, Amen.