Now and Not Yet by Ruth Chou SimonsSample

Have you ever thought about what it was that Eve ultimately treasured most? Her actions tell us that she wanted to be like God, to know what he knows, and to attain for herself what she didn’t fully trust God to provide. You see, Eve’s decision wasn’t a momentary lapse in judgment, and she wasn’t hypnotized by a shiny Red Delicious apple. Instead, she let herself believe that God was holding out on her, that he wasn’t yet giving his best to her. So she opted to reach out and get it for herself. She wanted more. More than what God had provided. More than what he’d promised. More than God himself.

The unbelieving world often celebrates Eve’s actions as powerful and assertive, but, friend, let’s be clear: God gave Eve everything she would ever truly need to be the best version of who he made her to be. She lacked nothing. Eve was made to be fully satisfied in her creator God, and access to him without shame or obstacle was the greatest supernatural power she could ever experience. She gained nothing better by trusting in herself. She was looking for more than God’s provision, but instead of giving her more, her search led to a restless longing within her and within every person since.

Because of sin, Adam and Eve knew shame for the first time and experienced a feeling they had not known prior: a sense of not enough.

Without the brokenness of sin, we wouldn’t wrestle with waiting, wanting, and restlessness. Before Adam and Eve ate the fruit, feelings of not enough weren’t a factor because God was fully and completely satisfying. Understand me clearly: it’s not sinful to struggle with those feelings. The feelings themselves aren’t sinful, but the temptation to find more on our own can lead to sinful responses if we try to substitute true rest in God with comfort in anything else.

Though sin, disbelief, discontent, and disobedience entered the world through Adam and Eve in the garden, God’s plan has always been to restore us to the relationship we were intended for and the rest we were created for. Our restlessness may be a result of the fall, but redemption restores our ability to truly rest. We can rest because of internal change even when our circumstances haven’t changed externally.

Prayer

Father, I confess the restlessness I have felt at times, and I ask for your forgiveness. I come to you now seeking true rest. Amen.