No, I do not mean that I live in close proximity to paradise - at least not in the way you just thought. No, I am not speaking of fruitful trees of orange and lemon and cherry and peach (no apples please!). Nor am I speaking of animals grazing - even the meat eaters - lion and lamb lying down together. No, these aren't what I write of tonight. These are perfect, wholesome, unblemished and as the Holy Spirit would inspire Moses to write, "good" things about The Garden. These were pre-chapter chapter three characteristics - and they couldn't be further from that which I speak.
No, I speak of that dirty and filthy chapter three. It is here, smack dab in the middle of chapter three where I find myself. Right here with Adam and Eve. Here is where I stand. Right here with sin and death and the Devil crouching at my feet waiting to spring the trap. That fallen angel ready with his trap of deceit and lies that will surely latch itself to my soul just as a steel trap springs on a bear's paw catching it and not letting go.
Here I stand. I - along with my first parents - look longingly at the forbidden fruit knowing in my heart it is off limits and yet here I stand. The fruit - it is so tantalizingly close and looks like no other fruit in Eden. I must have it!
Here is where I stand in the midst of selfishness and self-centeredness. It's so close - it must be mine! I cannot live without it! I don't care what He said! What does He know about this anyway? He sits up there in His lofty Heaven and dares to tell me what it is like down here? Besides did He really say, "no?"
Yes, this is the Eden I speak of tonight. And it is here - when looking back over the past two years - that I find myself, again and again. I gave into temptation. I gave into selfish thoughts. I gave in to fleshly thoughts. I put myself here - here where I stand. Not some devil - but me!
Father forgive me! Son forgive me! Holy Spirit forgive me! I have sinned against you oh Holy Trinity! I have placed myself before all! Before You Godhead! Before my family! Before my vocation! Before my Call! I beg of you LORD to take this sin and shame and guilt from me! I cry out with the Psalmist to create in me a clean heart and right spirit! Pull me close Father! Restore to me the JOY of Thy Salvation which is alone in Christ Jesus!
You promised LORD to save my first parents back in The Garden - and in doing so promised me, Raymond Allen Smith, a place in Your eternal Kingdom. Right there in that dirty old chapter three You were making all things new! You were at work restoring Your children unto their Heavenly Father! Right there in the midst of damnation was salvation! Right there where the Law was laying us low - the Gospel was raising us up! And for me that means reconciliation! It means restoration! It means reclamation! It means for me - Heaven Itself! Praise You oh Holy Trinity - Father, Son + and Holy Spirit that I have been redeemed and walk in newness of Life! Come LORD Jesus - come quickly!
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