In Their "Lack", They Had Everything

 

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When we generally hear “lack of” something, our minds mostly go to the negative side of things. Right? Most of us tend to think that a lack of something means we are missing something that we want, need, or should have. But what if lack of could also be a positive thing? I know, go ahead, and scratch your head but here is a scripture reference:

Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” (NIV)

In Adam & Eve’s lack, they had everything! Yes, Adam & Eve had a lack but they didn’t even notice it. Carline, have you read the story of creation lately? There was no lack! Actually, there was, but it was not evident because they were being sustained, provided, and protected by God. They were fully dependent and trusting in God. When He saw that Adam lacked something, He said “I will make a helper who is just right for him.” Adam didn’t even notice that he lacked a soulmate, God did! I’m not even talking about that kind of lack but I wanted to highlight it here for you. So if they had everything, what lack are we talking of here? Friends, I’m talking about an absence of….I want to highlight some “absences of” in this story and most of them are more evident after the fall. Adam and Eve did not have any knowledge of anything but God, who He is, what He’s created, and what He did for them.

Ø  First, there was an absence of “no good"...

When you read Genesis Chapter 1, you see this phrase a lot “And God saw that it was good.” and the chapter concludes with, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”. Because God created everything “good”, there was “no good” thing He had created. So, Adam & Eve were living in the “goodness” of God in the garden. They did not have the knowledge “no good”, they only knew “goodness” because they were fully in God. We can also experience the goodness of God. When we live fully in Christ, we can experience what David is talking about here: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23: 6. Remember when Moses asked God to “show me your glory?” (Exodus 33:18). But God answered, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you...” Friends, that’s His desire for you! When you live in Christ, He is constantly causing ALL of His goodness to pass in front of you!

Ø  There was an absence of shame...

The Bible said that Adam & Eve “felt no shame” of their nakedness. One of the most exposed & vulnerable states we can be in is nakedness. I’m gonna take this a step further and say, when we are in our naked self, we have stripped away everything we’ve used to cover up who we truly are. How many of us daily cover who we are or put on a façade for the world? Adam & Eve knew who they were in Christ, they knew where they came from and who created them. So why put on a façade for your Creator? When you are in the presence of God, living in and daily abiding in Christ, there will be an absence of shame of who you are. God just wants you to come just are you are. As Paul said in Romans 8, when we belong to Christ, we have no condemnation. Knowing that Jesus has taken our punishment, has freed us & redeemed us, we can no longer feel shame. We can feel forgiven, free, accepted, worthy, and loved. The devil wants to keep you in a state of shame or guilt. But Jesus wants you to live a redeemed life!

Ø  There was an absence of fear…

We know this because Adam & Eve not only felt afraid, but they hid from God after eating the fruit. This is the first mention where they felt fear, and this is where fear originated. Fear can cause so many emotions, physical, and physiological symptoms to manifest within us. In this case, it caused Adam & Eve to hide from God. When God asked Adam where he was, it was not to zero in on his location in the garden. It was for Adam to give an honest response of where his relationship was with God. It was for him to examine his heart and examine how far away from God fear had caused him to be. When we put fear first and faith last, we are telling ourselves, I’m gonna let fear take control and then once it subsides, then faith can step in. What we need to tell ourselves is I’m gonna let faith take control and fear can kick rocks! How has fear impacted your life? Are you afraid of God?

¹⁸ We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. I John 4: 18 TLB

Ø  There was an absence of disconnect…

We can see the evidence of this in this verse, “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man^[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.” Genesis 3: 8. This tells me that this was normal for God to walk in the cool breeze in the evening and normal for Adam & Eve to hear Him. To me, this was not an isolated event, this means that they spent time together daily. The fact that they could hear God walking means that their ears were already accustomed to it. They had already learned on how to discern the walk of God. Let me put it this way, do you know which co-worker is walking by your office just by the way you hear them walk? How about knowing how a family member or a friend walks? To recognize how someone walks, you would have to have already been accustomed to their way of walking. This means you would have spent time with them so much so that you know their walk anywhere! It’s the same thing about recognizing someone’s laughter, voice, or penmanship. God wants to connect with us in an intimate level so much so that He wants you to know his Voice. If you feel disconnected from Him today, it’s never too late to reach out to Him. He is the good Shepherd; He will go after that one lost sheep.

Ø  There was an absence of punishment…

We all know what happened after the fall, right? If you need a refresher, read Genesis 3: 14-19. Adam & Eve’s world was now considered “fallen” because of their sinful act of disobedience to God. To make it clear, we live in a sinful/fallen world, a world that was not originally created to be so. Even creation knows that this world is sinful and distorted! How much more should we, His most prized possession?! We were created by our Maker to be fully complete & sustained in Him. We were created by Him, through Him, and for Him. We were created to live in His presence, goodness, and perfect love. In Him, we lack nothing.

God could have given Adam & Eve a harsher punishment, but He is merciful. Adam & Eve tried to cover up their sin in their own strength by covering themselves with fig leaves. Don’t we do that now? We try to do things on our own strength, independent of our Creator? God covered their sin with animal skins, which implies there was an animal sacrifice. Thank you God for sending your Son Jesus to take our punishments for our sins. He is the Lamb of God and His blood covers all our sins!  

Because we live in a fallen world, now more than ever, we need God in our lives. I don’t have to tell you anything of what’s going on in the world for you to know what’s happening. All you need to do is turn on the news, browse social media, or read the newspaper. These events are all related to the fallen world that we live in, the kingdom of darkness. But just because we live in a fallen world, doesn’t mean that we can be a product of it. Jesus said that “we are not of the world” and He asked God to “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” John 17:15, 16. He goes on a step further to ask God to “sanctify” us by His truth (vs. 17). Being sanctified by God’s truth is how we can be in the world but not of the world. How we can live in the world but be protected from the evil one. When we live in Christ, we have God’s hand of protection over us.

I don’t how God spoke to you and what He spoke to you while reading this post, but I can tell you that this made an impact in my walk with God. It took me a while to comprehend what I just wrote! I want to be fully complete and sustained by Him daily. There are times where I find myself doing things on my own strength, but it brought more frustration. When I give it all to God, I experience peace. My prayer for you is for you to cling to God more than ever in this fallen world.

Warm Wishes,

Carline