Tuesday September 13 | The Fall: Shalom Disrupted
September 13 | Read Genesis 3:1-13
“Did God really say that?” All it took was one manipulative question to begin the process of breaking God’s created shalom. To break the relationship with God and a world operating as it should.
All it took was a question, a slightly modified representation of God’s command to disrupt the relationship between Adam and Eve, between humanity and creation, between humanity and God. Before they knew what had happened, they were disobeying God’s only prohibition, hiding from Him in the bushes, and turning on each other.
From that point on, everything God created was broken. The open and beautiful relationship He had with people - broken. The selfless and loving relationship between humans - broken. The perfectly balanced systems of sustaining creation - broken.
Everything God set out to do in creation was affected.
God’s two goals in creation - that He would be known and that everything He made would flourish - were thwarted. Or so it seemed.
Part of signing on to be a part of God’s mission in the world is acknowledging that the world is not as it should be.
Some of us enjoy the ‘pockets of shalom’ we find in our jobs, families, or even church community, and then avoid acknowledging what is still broken.
Others of us might spend a lot of time fretting over what is broken, without talking to God about it. We spin and worry, but don’t often direct our lament to the God who can and will change it.
Take some time right now to acknowledge the places where you see evidence that God’s created shalom has been disrupted. Cry out to God about this.