How quickly man messed things up with God!  Great Day! God had just created him in Gen. 1:27, and by Gen. 3:23, God had to evict him! Then by Gen. 6:6, God was grieved and full of pain that He had ever created man at all. Of the whole Bible, that's only 117 verses from creation to total depravity and wickedness, less than four pages in most Bibles!  Well, we really don't have an accurate concept of the time between those events, but it didn't take much for our sinful human nature to surface.  One of the saddest parts to me is that Adam and Eve, and even their children, really understood being in the presence of God. God actually walked with them in the beautiful garden (Gen. 3:8), and they conversed freely together. The words of Cain after his great sin are heart-wrenching: "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today You are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from Your presence" (Gen. 4:13-14).

To be hidden from His  presence--the worst condition of all--worse than poverty, worse than sickness, worse than war, or famine.  Praise be to God that He was not without a plan to bring us back!  And it was NOT Plan B.  The sin of man did not take God by surprise, and He is already assuring us in Gen. 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel."

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all will die, so in Christ will all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:20-22). The offspring certainly struck, bruised and pierced the heel of Christ, but that was not a death-dealing strike! The death blow comes through Christ, to crush the head of His enemy and ours! Hallelujah!  We are restored to right relationship and ushered back into the presence of God by the blood of the Lamb. What Adam broke, Jesus not only fixed, but redesigned and recreated! Now the Spirit of God does not only walk with us in the cool of the day, but He abides within us; we never have to be "hidden from [His] presence."

Thank You, Jesus, that You stayed with the Plan, and brought me out of darkness and into Your Marvelous Light! Help me now to stay with Your plan for my life. Help me to see it clearly and follow it surely. Amen