Were Adam and Eve the First Teenagers?
By: Jewels
I am now the proud parents of two teenagers, I don’t know how it happened, it seems like yesterday I was bring them home from the hospital. Several of my friends with years of parenthood had told me to cherish the childhood years and not to rush them. I see now what they meant, it flew by quickly. There is another side of the ticking of the clock from those years. At times, I felt like time was still..stopped in time..the clock hands were motionless. Especially the terrible two’s, the independent three’s and the other stages the child and parents will tackle from age 0-12, they are too numerous to mention. When we are involved in those moments, time does seem still at times. As I look back, I want those years again. I realize this when our oldest turned 16 and our youngest was 13 years of age. I cried out, “Lord give me another chance to appreciate that time. It went to fast and I am most definitely not ready.” But life is not that way. We do not get a second chance. Before you know it, they are teenagers.
I am a person of control, order and things working around me. Knowing where everyone is at all times, taking pride in the fact that my world was not questioned. My husband and I met all their needs and they were satisfied. This all changed one day when I realized they had become teenagers. I cried out to God, Help!
I quickly began to seek His wisdom on this subject. After much prayer and reading His instruction book (The Bible) for clues on this subject, He showed me a humor in this new adjustment in my life. I was reading, Genesis: 2: 15-17, The Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from the tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it you will surely die.
When I read that scripture it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had read that passage many times, heard many teachings and sermons on the fall of man. This time when I read it, I was having flash backs of instructions and directions I give to my teenagers. “You are free to eat of the table of your youth group, those that are well behaved and are serving the Lord and His Church. Stay away from the tree of the world that offers drugs, sex and fast cars.”
I began to ponder the fact, was God the Father the first parent of teenagers? He created Adam and Eve; they had no parents except Him. In reality He is our Heavenly Father and though we have parents He places each one of us to be raised with. He is the Father of all for eternity. I read that scripture again and again. The more I read it the more I began to understand and sympathize with God. To really see how He must have felt when Adam and Eve choose not to take His parental advice. “Oh”, “Yes”, “God I know your wisdom of good and evil is from years of experience. You know what evil has to offer. It will harm and hurt. Though it looks appealing, fun and irresistible you know that it will cause so much pain in the future.” I was talking to Him as a parent shares with another concerned parent who all has teenagers. “Oh Lord it must of hurt so bad when Adam and Eve decided to spread their wings to check out what it was really like to be out of your protection.” Lord you know the answers to make it work in life, but why are we so much like Adam and Eve? The teens test the boundaries we set as parents just like Adam and Eve did. If they could realize we have years of knowledge on the subject. Better yet you wrote the book and the wisdom is greater than all.
Satan is still offering that apple to our teens and those that take of it will pay for it. I know because I too, took of that apple and it is by your Grace Lord that I was able to make my wrongs… right. It does not mean that the pain it caused will never go from my thoughts. Time will heal, but not totally. If they could only see Lord, it is not a control of their will we want, only a protection of your knowledge from harm. I have seen teens drink and drive and killed. I’ve seen family and friends let drugs fry their brains and they become worthless to themselves and this world and then they have kids themselves and the cycle keeps going. It all starts just like the apple. It is so appealing and delicious looking. In the end, in time it destroys. Lord I wish Adam and Eve could of trusted your knowledge and benefited from what you knew. Just like me, I hope my teens you gave me to raise under your care will see that I want to protect them from years of seeing many eating of that apple.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden. “You still do that in each one of us when we are born into this world. You place us in the care of our earthly parents. All our needs and wants are taken care of from the start.” And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “My children who God trusted me to raise, you are free to grow and learn of your world God has placed you in. Smell the roses, lay in the comfort of your parents arms and sleep in the warmth of your home with no cares. But a time will come and you have a choice to seek the advice of God and your parents or the advice of Satan.”
The tree of knowledge is for those who understand good and evil. Did God intend for Adam and Eve to stay in His presence of good? Once they choose to check out evil, there was no turning back. A new world was exposed to them, that of evil. Just like today we are no different than Adam and Eve. Our society has a choice to live by God’s word or pay for the hurts that sin will one day bring to them. When they choose to do drugs it will be appealing like the apple, in time they will see the destruction. Or when a young person sees sex as love, it is a lie from Hell. Sex is not LOVE. When it is done outside the marriage covenant, you will live a life time wondering what love really is and missing out on one of God’s greatest blessings. “Lord, what a wonderful place this world have been if we had never taken of that tree. We could still be in your arms with no fear of evil because we would have not known it existed.
I pray for my teens as they go forth in life. I trust them in your care and protection. As they go forth in life, I trust them in your care and protection. As they go forth I take comfort in knowing that you know just how I feel, because You had to let go of Adam and Eve and let them make their own choices. You’ve been there "done that" and with help I trust you will help me raise our teenagers. AMEN
