Who's On First?

She was his wife, his “soul mate”…literally. She thought she was doing what was right. It looked good. It sounded like a great opportunity and so why wouldn’t she share it with her husband? I mean, after all, she was trying to do what was best for them, trying to be a good helpmeet. When she gave it to him, she told him the story of how she got it and what the salesman told her about the great benefits of the product. It would make their lives better, it would make them closer to God. What could be better than that?  And so the story goes on to describe the first sin that lead to the need for our Father to offer His only son for all of humankind:

“And unto Adam He said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17-19

Did you catch the first mistake Adam made? The VERY FIRST mistake Adam made, not the second.....not what other say is first, but the FIRST? Nope, it isn't the eating of the fruit look again.... the FIRST mistake...did you see the very FIRST problem that God admonishes Adam for? Yes, you see it, right? Listening….listening to someone else FIRST. But, she was his wife, his soul mate, made by God for him.  He even reminded God that she was made to be his helper, shouldn’t he listen to her advice?

 I have been thinking of this a lot lately. The detail of Adam listening to Eve is not the issue here. The fact that she was a female is NOT the issue here. The FIRST problem is that Adam listened to someone else FIRST…ANYONE else FIRST…friend, mother…brother…sister….author of some popular "Christian" book….you name it….anyone else...anything else that is not God.

The most heartbreaking part of this is that because Adam listened to someone else FIRST, God had to give FIRST...He had to give of Himself, lower a part of Himself to be rejected, tortured, and eventually die a painful death beyond my imagination because Adam did not listen to God FIRST.
It has been on my mind lately...a lot...who's on FIRST in my life? And who's on FIRST in yours?

~Tracy Frederick