2-10-2017, Don't stick your keys into an electrical outlet and not expect to get your eyes opened.

Genesis 3:1-8

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
"Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?"
The woman answered the serpent:
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil."
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and 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 realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.

When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.

When I was a 5 or 6 years old I got a hold of some extra keys that were laying around and was playing with them one night while my mom was making supper. Our stove in our kitchen had an electrical outlet installed on the face of it right above the oven door. We are talking Harvest Gold and with chrome trim here, vintage early 70's stuff here. Any how, I recall being fascinated with that little gray electrical outlet on the stove and was pretending to insert my keys into it to "turn the stove on" so my mom could make supper. My dad gave me a stern warning not to do that, but like any 5 year old that knows EVERYTHING, I proceeded to shove one of those keys straight into that electrical outlet. Who knew keys could conduct electricity so well! Those 120 volts caused me to clinch up and I couldn't move. I just sat there holding on not being able to let go. My dad seeing what happened was able to pull me away. The rest is a bit hazy but I do recall Dad finding a way to exceed the upper limit of his volume level. There were a lot of, " I told you this would happen." And, "That didn't feel very good did it?" With the occasional "This is why Mom and Dad tell you not to do stuff like that."

That's really where this story in Genesis is going. God gave Adam and Eve pretty specific instructions. To tend the earth, have dominion over the animals and plants, eat whatever you want, EXCEPT from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That's pretty simple stuff right there. Well we know what happens next don't we. The serpent tempts Eve. The serpent was right when he said that "There eyes would be open" and was also right in that "...they would be like gods..." only in the sense that they would gain the knowledge of good and evil but at the price of their innocence. As soon as they ate the fruit their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. No more running naked through the garden, or the living room (read yesterday's). Rather than listen to God, rather than follow God's rule, they insisted on becoming gods themselves just as the serpent had tempted. They thought they knew better.

Mark 7:31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Both men and women are accused of having selective hearing. They only hear what they want to hear at any given point either because they are engrossed in something or they just don't want to hear what someone else has to say. It's a little different in our family. My wife who is not immune to selective hearing does a pretty good job though of paying attention. As for myself, well I have legitimate hearing loss. It seems though that we as a people seem to suffer from a chronic case of selective hearing when it comes to God. We are either engrossed in ourselves and our own lives, or we simply do not want to hear what God has already said or is saying to us individually in our hearts.
Today Jesus heals yet another person, most likely a Gentile just as yesterday. The word was spreading that Jesus was a miracle healer. He couldn't go anywhere without people bringing them someone to be healed. Today Jesus opens the ears and heals the tongue of a man. I have no doubt that this really occurred, but I am also convinced that there is a bigger message here. Have your ears been opened to hear the word of God? Has your mouth been opened and your tongue healed to share the Word of God with others?

Just as a father tells his son not to put a key in an electrical outlet so he wouldn't get hurt, God gives us commandments so that our souls are not hurt. Since Adam and Eve were insistent to having their eyes opened, to lose their innocence and bring sin into the world as a result, many people have closed their ears to God instead.

Thought for the day: Since my eyes are opened to worldly things, are my ears closed to hearing God's word? His voice? Or would I rather stick MY fingers into MY ears and pretend not to listen?

One last thing. That electrical outlet on that 1970's Harvest Gold stove never worked again.