Why our minds are a mess, and what God did about it

God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:33

We were not meant to live with conflicting desires, but we were created to live forever in perfection. Genesis 2:15 says: “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (CSB). God could have placed us anywhere and then turned away to forget. Instead, he purposely placed us in a perfect environment where God himself dwelt.

The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves (Genesis 3:5-7 Emphasis mine).

But then the result of disobedience to God is felt immediately. Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. As shame enters, they are forced to leave the perfect garden.

So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:23-24).

He made fig leaves for them to cover their nakedness, and then he banished them from Eden. While God did not take away the consequences of their actions, he did provide physical cover (fig leaves) and protection from further hurting themselves (banishment). What if God had allowed them to access the tree of life while in a fallen state? They would live forever in that fallen state. What kindness and mercy he showed them in the face of deliberate offense.

Our disordered thoughts are just one example of the thousands of ways that our human sin nature still affects us to this day. In our heads, not understanding or revering the actual glory of God, we believe that we know better, so we try to re-write God’s intention toward us so that it fits our small misshapen box.

But God is unknowable, unfathomable, inestimable (Isaiah 55:8-9; 1 Corinthians 2:16) so much so that it took an act of God himself to interrupt our pattern of thinking in order to allow us to rediscover what he is trying to accomplish in us.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesains 2:8-9).

When God first lifted the veil of our minds and we were saved, he didn’t automatically restore us to our original sinless design. Instead, he did something amazing in our salvation. God enabled us – now knowing good and evil – to take on the righteousness of Jesus and live differently than before. In addition to all the spiritual blessings we get to take on as believers, he also gave us this gift of desiring a different direction for our lives.

Again, how kind and merciful is our Father who does not let us sit in our own mess, but gives us a way out of it! We did not deserve a second chance, but every morning we experience new mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23). He cobbles our brokenness back together with gentleness and love.

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105

Reflection:

Journal about a disordered thought you have had, either past or present.
Based on the kindness and mercy God demonstrated to us through Genesis 3, how do you think God would react to this disorded thought?
How can you reframe this thought to align with scripture?

Prayer:

Thank you God, for how you cover us with mercy especially when we do not deserve it. Please continue to reveal the disordered thoughts in my mind so that I can them surrender to you and follow your ways.

All scripture references taken from NLT unless otherwise noted.

References

Photo by Helena Yankovska on Unsplash

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