I’ve lived in 17 different homes during my 32 years of life, counting every dorm room and short-term apartment. From a young age, I’ve attempted to nest in each one. In eighth grade, I painted my room lime green. In college, I carefully picked out every accessory for my dorm room. In my adult life I’ve nested hard, spending weeks and months picking out furniture, arranging and rearranging gallery walls until everything was just right. It’s not that I’m a brilliant interior decorator (lime green, remember?); I just want each place I live in to feel like a home.
We may express it differently, but we all long for home. We have an innate desire to be where we belong—or to belong where we are. I wonder if this longing can be traced back to Adam and Eve when they lost their home, banished from the Garden of Eden for good.
For their entire existence, Adam and Eve had operated one way within in the garden. Naked and free, they had no shame or fear. They were at one with God. Then in a moment, everything changed, and “the eyes of both of them were opened” (Genesis 3:7). Suddenly, Adam and Eve were aware of their nakedness. They were afraid of God and ashamed to be seen by Him. When they left the garden that day, they lost more than their home; they lost themselves too.
I wonder if at the root of our desire to know where we belong is the desire to know who we are. Not only do we crave a return to Eden, but a return to who we were within Eden: unashamed, free, in communion with our God. Now we are as David laments, “guilty when I was born… sinful when my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).
We have an opportunity during this Easter season to grieve the loss of Eden and the loss of innocence. We can sit and contemplate our desire for home and belonging, place and identity. We do so with pain and sadness, but also with expectancy and hope.
In our quests for home, we need look no further than what we celebrate during Easter—an empty tomb. That is where our identities changed from sinful to righteous, from banished to welcome. When I know who I am in Christ, I always know where I belong. I always know where home is—in Him.
So this season we grieve and we celebrate. We are banished no more, guilty no more. We are ashamed no more because of Christ, the cross, and a tomb that lay empty. Let’s rejoice in Christ, the joy of our salvation. And let us give thanks to God who has revealed “the path of life to me,” the path leading home (Psalm 16:11).
Lauren – You ask a very good question! Here is my understanding: When God banished Adam and Eve, sin had entered the world through their disobedience. This act of keeping them from eating of the tree of life shows how merciful God is. He was protecting them from living forever in their sin and separation from God. He wants us all to choose eternal life with Him and that is now possible because through the blood of Jesus we can be cleansed from our sins! Hallelujah!!
That all makes sense, thank you! I think what I mean is – why didn’t God let them have access to the tree before sin even happened? While they were still living in harmony with God, why didn’t he just give them the tree of eternal life then? Rather, he waited until sin happened and then sent Jesus to save us. That’s why I don’t understand. Does that make sense?
I understand that they did have access to the tree of life. God told them that they could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This gave them free will to choose God. Just as we still have free will to choose Him today. Once they disobeyed by choosing to eat the forbidden fruit, He closed off access to the tree of life so they would not remain in their sin, separated from God for eternity. Hence, why He sent Jesus our savior, the “new Adam” to reverse the affect of sin and death and redeem us and restore our communion with God.
I think apart of why he allowed the tree is because he is a God that allows our free will. We can choose to be with God forever or we can choose to be without God forever.
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This was so good! I have a question that maybe someone with more Bible knowledge can help me with: God banished Adam and Eve so that they wouldn’t eat from the tree of life, “lest they live forever.” I don’t understand this. If God didn’t want us to live forever, why did He then send Jesus later to let us have eternal life with him? Wouldn’t it have been a lot less trouble to just give them access to the tree of life at the beginning?
As I understand it, this was a gift. Since Adam and Eve sinned, if they had eternal life granted at this point it would have been eternal life without Jesus, without God. They would have been condemned to eternity apart from God. God loved them – and all mankind- so sent a redeemer so we could have eternal life with him. But that came in the fullness of time.
If we enter eternal life without Jesus, we enter condemned as sinners and are apart from God. Out of mercy God protected Adam and Eve from eternal life at that point.
That all makes a sense! But I think my question is – why not give them access to the tree of life BEFORE the sin even happened? Before they did anything wrong, while they were in communion with God, they were told not to take from the tree of life. So it seems like God didn’t want them to live forever at that point. But then later, after sin, he sends Jesus to give us eternal life. Does that make sense?
This is such a great question!! And I am very much not God so I will not pretend I can read his thoughts (any thoughts that he hasn’t laid out in scripture). I think my response to this is looking at the Bible and the Gospel as a whole. God is perfectly sovereign and perfectly perfect (which is so hard to understand as a very imperfectly imperfect human such as myself lol). In His perfect sovereignty I know this from scripture: the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ Jesus (Col 1:19), we are created for his glory (all throughout scripture), and therefore my response would be that it pleases the creator of the universe to use the entire timeline of the universe to display his splendor and glory and to take every ounce of time that he allows to do so (his glory including his compassion, love, beauty, fierceness, jealousy).
That all makes sense, thank you! I think what I mean is – why didn’t God let them have access to the tree before sin even happened? While they were still living in harmony with God, why didn’t he just give them the tree of eternal life then? Rather, he waited until sin happened and then sent Jesus to save us. That’s why I don’t understand. Does that make sense?
I’m no Bible scholar, but I understand that they could eat from ANY tree in the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So they did have access to the tree of life before they disobeyed. However, God also placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden because He wanted them to have free will to choose Him. By choosing to eat fruit from any of the other trees, they would be choosing God and would receive the gift of eternal communion with Him. But they instead chose the forbidden fruit. In God’s mercy He would no longer allow them to eat of the fruit from the tree of life and remain in sin for eternity. Hence, the need for Jesus our savior, the “new Adam” who would come to reverse the affect of sin and redeem us and restore our relationship and communion with God.
Hey Lauren, if you read the passages before the one in the devotional you’ll find this verse; “17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ” so as you can see, before sin they had assess to the tree of life. After the fall God showed his grace by allowing them to eventually die. Just as we as humans at times struggle with regrets, I could only imagine the wiegyht
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Thankful that I belong to God❤️
So beautiful. I’m speechless… thank you God for directing us HOME. Home is where YOU are
Today I lost my father and also about to buy a home. This was so crazy to ready the heart of this message. The longing for home. I will think of both fathers as I prepare my new place. Lord be with me forever and always Amen
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May God be with you and comfort you with His presence, forever and always.
Thank you Lord for salvation.
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