May 1, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

( Genesis 2.25)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

And then came “Day Eight.” Of course, there is no mention of the eighth day in the Bible. For me it is a metaphor of “what comes next.” We all face our own “eighth days.” Those days are when we engage the world after experiencing the time and space of worship in the presence of God. For some people, it happens right in the foyer of the worship center when coffee is spilled by an accidental bump and you say “hey, watch where you are going” with intensity, kids run in front of you yelling and screaming and you think “disrespectful” or maybe as you are exiting the parking lot and someone cuts in front of you or simply are not moving fast enough so you might be late for lunch or worse- you’re tee time at the club. For others, that “eighth day” might be Sunday night as you think again about having to go to work at a job you really hate. It could be the load of laundry waiting for you to do because your teenagers just refuse saying “It’s your job, you’re the parent.” It could be any number of scenarios that strike a chord in the flesh which is so willing to respond that it silences the Spirit who speaks as your conscience reminding you of what is right. Tensions build. Priorities are challenged. Theology seems weak at the moment to resolve “real” problems. Or you are just plain tired and have no more energy to do anything but lay down and cry. The “eighth day” is when what is right, true, good, holy and the things of God we should think upon gets siloed to Sunday (or whenever you spend time in worship in person or online) as if it is just another day among many. Even then, it isn’t even a full day, perhaps an hour or a little more, whose invocation to worship is grumbling and disparagement or lamenting or grieving or overwhelmed by an obligation as if it is a works righteousness box to be checked.

We know what Adam and Eve’s “eighth day” moment was. It was a “walk in the park.” It was stewarding, shepherding, engaging and loving on all that God had made and given to them to experience as helpmates, literally soul mates, in the innocence of God’s abiding grace and abundant presence. It wasn’t heaven, mind you, but on earth it was the next best thing. Let’s stop and think about that place for a second. As soon as I mention Heaven and the Garden of Eden, did a flag rise up and say “Whoa, just a minute. We know what happened in the Garden of Eden with the serpent, the apple and the fatal question which opened the eyes to temptation.” How can I say they are similar when there were no angels in the Garden and no Satan in Heaven? I guess you forget, or maybe hadn’t read about, how Satan was able to walk in the courts of Heaven to engage God as recorded in the Book of Job. It is an ancient story. Some say it is the oldest written story in the Bible. It really doesn’t matter about all of that. What is important is that there was this similarity between Heaven in the heavens and Heaven on earth called the Garden of Eden. That similarity is that Satan was there. He appeared in the form of a serpent, an eye-catching creature with the unique ability to speak. He had “separated” himself out from all other creatures. He made himself fascinating and harmless. This is the way Satan generally works as he seeks to dethrone God in our lives so that as “nature abhors a vacuum,” we allow him to take a seat at the table. And when it happens, he always has something ready for you to swallow, consume, ingest, digest and believe that it is good…until it is not. [Let me remind you that “good,” even here in this context still means “serves the very purpose of God as He intended.”]

Am I saying, God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve; remember they are together as two who have been and should be as one? Perhaps, I am just asking you to consider that question, which you have asked many times before so don’t point your finger at me as if you are innocent and I am the guilty party, and ask yourself, “Why would God do such a thing?” If love is always a choice, then why would God not provide choices? Of course, God would hope that the investment He made in them and for them would be significant enough that they would choose wisely. To choose wisely would have sounded like this: “No, thank you. No!” What we had there, and what usually happens in all “eighth day” situations we have here, is a failure to communicate. Imagine, if you will, the conversation that happened because of Satan’s desire to dethrone God by disrupting the communication between God, Adam and Eve. Before this time, no question had ever been uttered. God spoke His word, the Holy Spirit translated it in power, the elements in chaos and meaninglessness obeyed without question and things were “good, good and very good.” This included humanity. They did not ask the childish question “Why?” They just were and glad for it. There was no reason to doubt, fear or wonder. They just were. Even when God told Adam about the two trees in the middle of the Garden, Adam never questioned God. Why should he? God had given no reason for question. God never doubted His creation. God never demeaned nor devalued all that He had made. Even Adam was not fully aware, at least not consciously aware, that he was singularly unique in all of God’s creation. The story lends itself to consider that the purpose of parading the animals “two by two” was to spark a question in Adam of why he alone was “one.” Maybe Adam thought it deep down; but Adam did not say it. God did. And from that we get the portrait of the two who were as one and should always be. And they were…until the “eighth day” when the Serpent asked the question “Did God really say?” Yes, the only other voice Eve had heard was Adam’s. God spoke to him and thus through him to Eve. This most important thing to have been said by Adam was the warning given to him by God. Hear again the question Satan the Serpent uttered, “Did GOD really say….?” She did not have an answer. She heard only Adam. Now Adam was strangely quiet in the shadows behind a tree watching and waiting. He was as transfixed as Eve to hear another creature speaking. He had only heard Eve and God. The novelty of it all seems purposeful. Who would choose to do what was right in the eyes of God? The “naked” truth be told, Adam and Eve stood separately together and neither of them were ashamed. They were not ashamed until….

There is a lesson here for us all well. Questions are not bad when we know what the answer is in God’s word. Separately out from the truth source of truth, especially in virgin territory where we haven’t heard a word on this, we shouldn’t make things up as if we make them right- consider the source of what is right, true, good and holy. Then speak after asking Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.