Passage, Paragraph, and Prayer

In Genesis 3:12 we note how fallen humans tend to point the finger at other people and things, even God, for their own wrongs, and how sin not only ruins our relationship with God, but also with one another. In this devotion we look at our tendency to point the finger. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig...

The popular hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” emphasizes that we can share *anything* with God. Of course, that idea didn’t originate with the hymn writer. It’s right here in Psalm 119. NOTE: When the psalmist talks about God answering him; we shouldn’t imagine that he does so in some sort of mystical way, whispering to us or directly planting answers in our thoughts. The psalmist himself tell...

After asking Adam an innocent, open-ended question and then a question that would have required a more complex answer, God finally make confession of sin as simple as possible for Adam. Did you or didn’t you? Yes or no? Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

This Bible verse is a good prayer for us to pray when we feel healthy and invincible, and death is the farthest thing from our minds. In reality, we live every moment in the company of death. Yet with God’s word, we also live every moment in life eternal. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

Those who teach their students how to teach others have a rule: Only ask one question at a time. It initially seems like God breaks this rule in Genesis 3:11…until we remember that God is the perfect teacher, and so it’s more likely that Adam simply didn’t have an answer to God’s first question. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du me...

Maybe we’re too proud to admit it, but how often don’t we need reliable advice and counsel? In God’s word we have an advisory team that never fails us in life or in death. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

When someone starts questioning us after we’ve done wrong, what do often do? Stall for time. We’ll blubber and mumble and talk about details that don’t directly relate to the question and don’t really answer the question. Our father Adam did the same. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

If peers who are younger than you or who aren’t your friends oppose you for your faith, you probably won’t think anything of it. But when about when those with influence and power do so? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

God doesn’t just model fatherhood in his creating and protecting us. He also models fatherhood in the way he continues to uphold his created order in confronting Adam and Eve after they have fallen into sin. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

Guarding God’s testimonies doesn’t tend to earn respect in a fallen world. Quite the opposite. So what do we do with that burden of reproach and contempt from others? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

God had only done tremendous good for Adam and Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit, so why do they attempt to hide from him among the trees? In Genesis 3:8 we see another wretched side effect of sin—*our* sin foolishly causes us to think that it has changed something in *God.* Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV...

We tend to romanticize insolence and rebellion and make it attractive, but God rebukes such people as cursed. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

The devil promised a kind of enlightenment, and in sinning, Adam and Eve’s were opened in a sense—to a firsthand knowledge of evil that only filled them with shame and guilt. On the whole, though, sin only made them stupid. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

The concept of having a crush is as old as the psalms, except the object of the psalmist’s crush is not a person of the opposite sex. He seeks to cultivate in us a crush on God’s decrees. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

Moses, the author of Genesis, tells us that Adam was with Eve the entire time she was being tempted. Yet he said and did nothing. That means that he was just as involved in the fall into sin as his wife was. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

How much more wisely would we all live our lives if we remembered and realized that earth is no one’s true home? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

Usually we assume that the only way we can know the truth is if we perceive if with our own sense. (Think of the saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”) But what the Fall into Sin makes clear is that the devil also uses our senses to deceive us about the true reality. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzi...

Gregory the Great once said that Scripture is a stream an elephant can swim in and a lamb can wade across. In other words, a child can grasp and express its message with little effort, but it also has an endless supply of “Aha!” moments waiting inside. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

This is the first of a three-week series on the first in Scripture that describes humanity’s fall into sin. Genesis 3:6 is one of the saddest verse, if not the saddest verse, in the Scriptures. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

In mainstream American Christianity, obedience to God is often presented as our free choice. But in this verse the psalmist makes clear that God must act before we can act in a godly way. He must give before we can give to him. His grace comes before our obedience. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

The devil mixes some truth with his lies, even his bold-faced lies, and thereby he makes them sound rational. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

Did you know that God himself encourages us to make games out of his Word, especially for children and young people? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

When we stand our ground against Satan’s initial temptations, he eventually shows his true colors—calling God a liar, and in so doing, revealing himself as the ultimate liar. He takes what God says in black and white and says the opposite. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

Does worship ever get ruined for you because of what someone else is doing? The psalmist has something to say to us about our focus and attention in Psalm 119:15. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

Sometimes Eve gets a bad rap for engaging with the serpent or for saying that they are not allowed to touch the fruit. In reality, Eve did a good job responding to the devil…at first. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).