In my devotional today, I discovered something that has been in the Bible the whole time, but somehow I overlooked it.

God’s first command to man was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Doing so would result in a consequence of death. That is pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

God’s Mercy

After Eve and Adam were tempted by the serpent, they sinned. When they heard God in the garden that evening, they hid. They didn’t seek out God; rather, He sought them. God is still seeking sinners today. And when He found them, He did not immediately strike them dead as those who are paying attention to what God said earlier would expect. Rather, God showed them mercy. From the very first sin, God reacted with mercy. Yes, there were consequences: hard work for Adam, pain in childbirth for Eve and the ultimate consequence was that both would die someday. But not right away! God was establishing His authority and His loving discipline from the beginning. He is still showing mercy, sovereignty and discipline. Why? Because, just as He loved Adam and Eve, He loves us.

The other thing that I had thought about previously, but it was like a fleeting thought was that this banishment from the garden and the plan for salvation in Genesis 3:15 was not Plan B. God knew what would happen when He told man not to eat of that fruit and He already had a plan in place. Repentance and salvation were always Plan A. That is hard for me to wrap my mind around because I wanted God to stop them before they sinned. That’s not how life works. The temptation is there before us and we have to choose to walk away from it. When we choose to sin (when, not if), then God has a plan to restore us to right relationship with Him. Confess and repent. God looks for us, finds us and desires to restore us.

If you are looking for a good Bible study, I suggest the one I just started with the ladies of my church. It is online and easy to read and understand. It’s on the YouVersion and is called THE BIBLE RECAP. I just completed my first day of the study and what I wrote above is a summary of what I put in my journal this morning. God showed mercy from the beginning. God sought sinful man from the beginning. God is still working on His Plan A. And we are part of that plan. Amazing insights for me…maybe you already knew all this and you are yawning right now. But since I have read through the Bible at least a dozen times, I am in awe that every time I open it, I can learn something new about God, His character and His plan.

May God bless you to have the best day ever! Be blessed to be a blessing.