Drove out

“So He drove the man out,”  Genesis 3:24

Drove out – Adam and Eve didn’t want to leave.  Sometimes we forget that even though they sinned, they had no intention of leaving Paradise.  After all, Paradise was a nice, comfortable place.  Things were good there.  Why leave just because you have a little dispute with God?

Sinful Man would just as soon stay in the Garden.  But God won’t have sin infecting His Garden.  So, He drove them out.  The word is garash.  It is not a pleasant word.  You can find it in Exodus 11:1 (Pharaoh drives out the Israelites) and the Leviticus 21:7 (a woman driven out through divorce).  It’s an emotionally heavy word.  There is a lot of sad anger here.  God was quite willing for obedient Man to stay in the Garden.  But Man chose a departure route.

We haven’t come very far from this day, have we?  We were the disobedient creatures who still wanted things to be like they were in the “good old Garden days”.  We lived according to our own perspective, ignoring God’s desires.  Then a day came along that caused us all kinds of grief and we rushed to Him saying, “Oh, God.  Please help me.  Fix this so that I can have my life back.”  But we forgot that God had to drive them out. 

Sin is the great evictor.  God gave us the terms of the lease.  Eviction clauses were there.  But we didn’t bother to read the bold print.  In fact, God had to point it out to us.  Then the day came when God gave us an eviction notice and we pleaded and complained.  Too late.  It was garash day.

We want God to excuse our contempt and rebellion.  He doesn’t.  We want God to fix things for us after years of disobedience.  He doesn’t.  We want to have our Garden lives without paying attention to the lease terms. 

The big question of life is where you’re going to live.  It’s easy to live outside the Garden.  Easy but not very nice.  Not what God wanted.  If you have been driven out like me, then you know what you really want.  You want to get back home.  God is willing.  It’s a matter of repentant obedience:  accepting a new lease on life and following the terms.