Out of Place

 

The first Book of the Bible is Genesis, and this is very purposeful. Human beings learn by dissecting and digesting knowledge in layers and by repetition of patterns. Heavenly Father wanted us to start out with a foundational knowledge about the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. This greatly aids our understanding because it is a foundational layer that we can continue building on as we learn more about Christ. Knowledge about Adam and Eve also shed tremendous light on God and His nature. It helps us to understand His original intention for us. Before Adam and Eve decided they no longer wanted to be under God’s sovereignty, their relationship with Heavenly Father was perfect. It was their choice to turn their backs on Him. In His Word, He has allowed us to witness the contrast between what He wanted and what we wanted, so we can learn how far apart the two can sometimes be.

As bad as it feels, sadness is often the conduit that causes us to ask Heavenly Father for help. Feelings of despair and sadness are not a natural state. This is a truth all of us must accept. These feelings didn’t enter the picture until Adam and Eve disobeyed God. While they were in fellowship and harmony with the Father, they were happy and blessed. This is what God wants for everyone. A state of oneness with God is our original and natural state. Although we may not articulate or even think about this, on some level most of us know it’s true. We understand that despair, disappointment, grief, and sadness are not the way we should feel all the time.

Psalm 37:4(NLT) tells us, to “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” We can so clearly see our Father’s heart towards us in this verse. To delight in God is to dwell on His goodness. It is to guard our hearts and minds from all the negativity of the world and to spend time focusing on Him and Him alone. We accomplish this by meditating on God’s Word and learning about Him. This is a major component to drawing near to God, but many of us do not make these spiritual practices a habit. We want to spend our mental and emotional elsewhere and show little interest in God’s masterful plan for keeping our minds and hearts enriched through Him. We might pray every now and again, but we are not talking to Heavenly Father often and doing even the simple things that we know will cause intimacy in a relationship; we must change this.

Matthew 4:4(NKJV) tells us that when Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he responded by telling satan,“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' ” The Word of God is life to us! Our souls must be nurtured in the truth, because that is the way God created them. When we don’t nurture our souls with God’s Word, we lose fuel fast. And because we’re not feeding ourselves with more life, we often find that it feels as though everything else in life is conspiring against us.

Without God’s Word living and thriving in us, we’re running on empty. It’s impossible to add more life to anything else when that is the case. So instead of adding, we’re subtracting. Heavenly Father designed the universe in such a way that it doesn’t cooperate with our refusal to add light and love in the way we were purposed to.

After Adam and Eve sinned against God, they hid. They sewed fig leaves together to hide the shame of their nakedness. Their sin had exposed them, it had left them without the covering of holiness. They were not in the paradise of God’s protection, love, and care; so, they were out of place. God knew they had lost the spiritual position of their destiny. Genesis 3:9(NLT) tells us, “Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?””

Of course, God knew where they were. He knew what they had done. He knew they had fallen. In Genesis 3:9, He shows us that by choice they had abdicated the position of dominion and authority that God had given them. They were not where He had destined them to be. When God asked Adam what happened, Adam replied, “It was the woman You gave me. She made me do it!!!” Rather than seeking God for forgiveness, Adam played the blame game. Our tendency is to do the same.

We look to blame and to bottle up emotions of resentment against others that have wronged us and against situations that have not worked in our favor. When in truth, people and situations were responding to our displacement. We were not where God destined us to be, because we assumed our lives were our own. 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) tells us, “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

To let go and let God is to ask for His guidance and direction. We need to humble ourselves, to pray, and to ask the Father to help us release those emotions and attitudes that are making us sad and causing us to be out of place and out of balance.

We can regain our spiritual footing through the love of Christ, and we should make this our highest priority. God commands us in Ephesians 4:22-24 to put off the old nature—the old attitudes, emotions, thoughts, and deeds—and to put on our new nature that was created in righteousness and holiness. The smallest step that we take to do this will cause us to redirect and head down the path of God’s love. When we seek His forgiveness for our sins, repent, and commit ourselves to God through Jesus Christ, He will guide us to the blessed place in our spiritual walks that He has destined us to be. ■

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“Out of Place”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.