One of the Bible’s early insights about our human nature takes place in the third Chapter of Genesis, right after the Creation account. God has created this beautiful, welcoming world and asked Adam to start naming all of the animals. God creates Eve and things are really going great...until that serpent comes along. As someone once said, there's always going to be a snake in your Eden! Then, even though God had told them not to do it, Adam and Eve both have a bite of the forbidden apple. Suddenly, they realize something about their situation had changed, something they hadn't noticed before. Shortly later, God comes along and wants to have a conversation with them but they're hiding and they tell Him that the reason they're hiding is because they're naked. Let's pick up the story at that point:

“Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?” The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” The Lord God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?” She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.” (Gen. 3:11-13)

I once read of an event that took place shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. A woman who had possessed great governmental power and influence came to Christ and found forgiveness and grace. As she began to see the truth of the Bible, she asked, "Whose fault is it that I never heard about this before? Who's to blame?" The woman’s complaint is not a new one, is it? In today's passage, God asks Adam and Eve—even though He already knows the answer— “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?” Adam replied, "It's Eve's fault! You gave her to me and look what she did!" Interesting, right? He’s suggesting that their disobedience was, at its core, God's fault. Eve took it even further in her reply to God. "Hey, don't blame me—it's the serpent's fault!" Tellingly, neither answered God’s question directly. He didn't ask them who convinced them to eat the apple; He simply asked them if they had eaten it.

You and I, if we are to have a free and open relationship with God, must take responsibility for our own disobedience and waywardness. When we sin, as we know we will, we must confess it and ask God to forgive us. When we do that, God will forgive us and make a way for us to know Him more deeply...and that is very Good News!