"THAT WOMAN YOU GAVE ME" - walkingbyfaith.com.ng

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool (afternoon breeze) of the day, so the man and his wife

hid and kept themselves hidden from the presence of the lord God among the trees of the garden. But the the lord God called to Adam, and said to him, “where are you?”He

said, “I heard the sound of you (walking) in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten (fruit) from the tree of which I commanded

you not to eat?” and the man said, “The woman whom you gave to me to be with me – she gave me (fruit) from the tree, and l ate it. “(GENESIS 3:8-12 AMP).

In creation, God has specific reason and responsibility for creating man.

As we read “then God said, “let us (father, son, holy spirit) make man in our image, according to our likeness (not physical, but a spiritual personality and

moral likeness); and let them have completely authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth” (GENESIS 1:26 AMP).

This reason and responsibility were followed by and obligation. “and the lord God command the man, saying, “you may freely (unconditionally) eat (the fruit) from every tree of the garden; but (only) from the tree of

the knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly die ( because of your disobedience) (GENESIS 2:16-17).

These were part of the discussions God had with the man alone before the woman joined him (Gen. 2:18).

Therefore in giving this exposition, we hope to emphasize the fact that every step, stage and level of human (man and woman) life comes with responsibilities and obligations.

And that in as much as success in life depends on how well we handle these responsibilities and obligations, a good

amount of it depends on how we accept and handle our failures and inabilities. This is the focus (thesis) of this theme.

from our theme text above in one of the routine visits that the lord God made to Adam and his wife in the garden of Eden,

when questioned by God regarding his awareness of his nakedness and whether he had eaten from the forbidden tree, Adam seemed to have had no reservations about blaming eve.

In response to God’s questions, Adam replied: “the woman whom you gave to be with me – she gave me (fruit) from the tree, and I ate it.

“In other words, “I ate of the tree, but it is not my fault. My wife and companion, the woman you gave me, she gave me of the tree, “ with these words, Adam demonstrated an instinctive response that

has been characteristic of every human being since. When confronted with a deviant behavior or a wrong for which we are responsible, blame someone else.

The sequence of event in the garden that day affirmed this tendency. Let’s listen to Adam once more “the woman whom thou gravest to be with me: to be my wife and my

companion, to be an help meet unto me, and share with me in the blessings of paradise, to assist in civil and domestic affairs, and join with me in acts of religions and

devotion: she gave me of the tree, and I did eat; she first ate of it herself, through the solicitation of the serpent,and then she persuaded me to eat of it; and accordingly I did, I own it.

By this answer Adam Endeavour to cast the blame partly upon his wife ,and partly upon God; though in what he said he told the truth, and what was matter of fact, yet it

carries this innuendo, that if it had not been for his wife he would have never eaten of it, which was a foolish excuse; for he, being her head and husband, should have taught

her better,and being more careful to have prevented her eating of this fruit, and should have dissuaded her from it, and have reproved her for it, instead of following her

example, and taking it from her hands: and more than this he tacitly reflects upon God, that he had given him a woman, who, instead of being an help meet to him, had

helped to ruin him; and that if he had not given him this woman, he would have never done what he did.

When we look back and observe the excitement and joy with which Adam welcomed and accepted “that woman God gave him (Gen. 2:23), it becomes

irresponsible considering the rate a man may find fault with God for the greatest blessing and mercies of life bestowed on him, which are abused by him, and so aggravate his condemnation. We spend lots

of time and resources praying to God for certain favors and privileges. But when these prayers are answered, these favors and privilege turn out to become excuses for

lack of commitment to service to God. What a show of ingratitude. Adam thought that he was smart, but he forget that when God came to the garden, he did not ask “Adam and eve where are you”? Rather he asked “Adam where are you”? (Gene.3:9). By this,

God reinforces and reminds Adam that the responsibilities and obligations of their saying in the garden rest squarely on his

shoulders. And so, should anything go wrong, as it did, he – Adam, not the wife, will be held responsible. Also in Adam’s response, he did not say “my wife and

I”or”we…”rather he said “I heard …, I hid…, I was… (gen.3:10). By this, Adam acknowledges that he is the one on whose shoulders the responsibility and obligation

of living obediently to God, rest. So for him to turn around in his next explanation to blame “the woman God gave him” is not only irresponsible foolish, it is also self destructive.

As men and husbands, we may allow our woman and wives run our families, home and society under the guise of feminism,

gender equality, or other socialist inventions. But we must understand that we are, and will remain, responsible for whatever becomes the outcome of such relation of duty and responsibility. If God did not spare

Adam, despite his “smart” reasoning, he would not spare us either, As leaders, managers and supervisors, it is important to delegate duties and responsibilities to

others, but we must be reminded that those to whom we delegate such duties and responsibilities may only share from the consequences of the outcome of such

delegation, but that the bulk of the responsibilities of rest on us leaders, managers, or supervisors.
Blaming others is easy. In doing so we

irrationally believe that we do not have to take responsibility for out behaviors or our part in any disagreements. Instead of asking ourselves “what did I do to contribute to this problem?” “is there something I could and

should have done differently?”, like Adam we hide by blaming. Without even realizing it, we immediately start losing respect for those we deem blame worthy; we treat them

with disrespect, and we come out of a stinky situation smelling like roses. However, we fail to recognize that while it may make us feel good retards our personal and spiritual growth.

There is no going forward until we come clean with ourselves, with others, and with God.

These thought came to mind as I reflected on the words of the psalmist, “behold, thou desires truth in the inward parts” (psalm51:6a).

David wrote those words after his transgression with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11). He did not try to hide his wrong nor did he blame Bathsheba, a beautiful woman he saw naked while she was out on

the roof having a bath, for their adulterous affair. When confronted by the prophet Nathan, he threw himself on God’s mercy: “having mercy upon me, O God, according to

thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly for my iniquity and cleans me from sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin

is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightiest be justified when thou speakest: that thou mightiest be justified

when thou sleekest, and be clear when thou judges” (psalm51:1-4). Change is only possible when we first take steps to acknowledge our wrong and take personal responsibilities for our behaviors for the believe, this is an important first steps.

David remains us of God’s delight: “for thou desires not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delights not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, o God, thou wilt not despise” (VV. 16-17).

We all make mistakes and engage in regrettable actions, but by falling to take personal responsibility the road to contractive change is blocked. Better to

blame others than to admit culpability, so we think. From our perspective, making mistakes means being flawed and being unworthy or respect so we preserve self at all cost.

But God does not see it that way. Walking with him required a clean heart and a right spirit that includes taking responsibility for the wrongs we do.

No matter the transgression, as long as we bare ourselves before him, he is still in the business of forgiving. If you are still not sure if this is true, ask David.

Let men therefore arise and be alive to our responsibility of ensuring the dominion of God over his created world. Let’s always be

prepare to take responsibility for the outcome of our actions including those taken by our wives and all those who we supervise as leaders.

Remember, there is no “that woman God has given us” who can lead us against the will of God, unless we allow them.

Shalom….