Plan Rejection!
Why do you think most relationships struggle and/or eventually fail? Perhaps this is the answer.
God's Master Plan is about relationships - first with Him and secondly with each other. As His eternal plan was implemented, everything was perfect: the relationship between Him and mankind, and the relationship within mankind. But something happened. The plan was rejected. Let's investigate what happened.
Genesis 2:16-17
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.'"
Why would God put such tree in the garden? Was He tempting man? No! God tempts noone. He was giving man the opportunity to show Him how much he loved and trusted Him through his obedience. It was a test and God gave him the answer to the test as He was adminstering it. "Love and trust Me above all and our relationship will flourish. Reject Me and you will die." Unfortunately, Adam and Eve rejected God and His perfect master plan.
Chapter three of Genesis reveals how God's master plan came to be rejected by the couple. The upcoming post "Twenty-one Life Principles from the Garden" will go into great detail of this chapter and its application. However, today we want to focus on why God's plan for mankind's life was rejected, and the main reason why most relationships fail.
Genesis 3:4-6
"Then the serpent said to the woman, 'YOU will not surely die. For God knows in the day YOU eat of it YOUR eyes will be opened, and YOU will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desireable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."
There you have it! The rejection of God's perfect plan and the reason most relationships fail. Selfishness! Eve caved into the temptation. She decided God's plan was foolish and that she should be the center of her relationships, not God.
So was it the Devil's fault she fell into sin? By no means! He did not put a gun to her head and tell her if she didn't eat of the fruit he would pull the trigger. She chose to reject God's perfect plan and make herself the center of her life.
While many reasons might be cited as to why relationships fail, virtually all of them have as their root selfishness.
In our next study we will see that Adam and Eve's sin was not the termination of God's Master Plan, but the rejection of its pefect start. Remember, God's Master Plan stretches from eternity, throughout history and into eternity again.
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