Echoes of Eden: Why We Crave what was Lost

Another disappointment. Another let down. Another longing unfulfilled. Another promise broken. Why do these moments still hurt when they have happened over and over again? Because we crave what Eden once offered and still echoes today.

 Eden’s Offerings

                  My limited imagination cannot fully comprehend the beauty with which God created Eden. Genesis 2:9 states, “The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit.” Nothing was tainted. All components held perfection. Even the trees “In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” were beautifully displayed.

                  Adam and Eve had the pleasure of experiencing the innocence of Eden. No echo. They were there and able to hear God’s voice with clarity, experience his protection, engage creation with no shame (Genesis 2:25). They had community with each other and with God without the hinderance of sin. Relationships were pure, promises upheld, and disappointments non-existent because of the perfection with which God created Eden. Adam and Eve walked unashamedly unclothed in perfect union with God. They were whole in body, mind, and heart.

              Unfortunately, that perfection, the innocence Eden offered ended.

 Loss of Eden

  While the beauty of Eden is hard to imagine, a life without strife is even harder to imagine for us because it is all we have known. The same cannot be said for Adam and Eve. They only knew the beauty, innocence, and perfection of Eden. Until one day.

The serpent convincing Eve that there was more she could have and twisting God’s words which led her and Adam to eat of the tree of good and evil made “their eyes opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness” (Genesis 3:7). Additionally, it is the first time that Adam and Eve “hid from the Lord God among the trees” (Genesis 3:8).

And it is the first time God asks, “Where are you?” This question alone holds so much power in its meaning. For Adam and Eve, it is one of the saddest questions because it shows the first rupture of relationships. It is the first willful act of sin. It is the first time they experience the consequences of sin: shame and the banishment from the Garden.

What they once knew, Adam and Eve no longer could attain. And that longing remained with them and is with us today.  

The Echoes of Eden

                  As I read Genesis 2 and 3, I recognized the echoes of Eden. The longings Adam and Eve may have experienced once losing their place in the garden, we can still hear and long for today. Here are three echoes we may experience today:

1)        Purity of Relationship

We may have some beautiful relationships with friends, family, and others that feed our soul. But they are not without moments of conflict, hurt, and sometimes brokenness. We cannot know what Adam and Eve have known to walk unashamedly in perfection with God and others.

All of us have most likely have known some type of heartache in relationships. We may have experienced betrayal, abandonment, disappointment, and more. I have faced disappointment with trusting someone’s word and feeling the sting of being “ghosted.” I keep believing that all of us who call ourselves children of God will be good, trustworthy, and kind doing our best to live in Christ-likeness. However, because we are all sinners, we, at times, miss the mark. As I pondered this yesterday after another “let-down,” I wondered why I keep thinking it will be different. This is when God brought the echo to mind.

The echo reminds us of what we were meant to have: whole, unblemished, promise-filled relationships. Yet, sin, including our own, keeps us from attaining that.

 2)        Perfection

Our souls long for perfection: perfection of self, perfection of others, perfection of relationships, and the list could go on. In the Garden that was attainable. However, today perfection is beyond reach.

 Adam and Eve hid because they became aware of their nakedness. God’s question is poignant: “Who told you were naked?” This question shows this is the first time they gained awareness of shame and sin. Perfection was no longer available. However, the faint echo of perfection still lines our souls.

 We were created in the image of God. We are image bearers. However, we cannot be perfect because of the blemish of sin. The only we can even make it to the Father is through the blood of Christ whom “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s blood cleanses our sins so that we can have fellowship with God. But we will not be perfect. We will be made whole one day as we stand in the presence of God, but on this earth, perfection will be lacking.

Moreover, if we try to apply perfection to ourselves, others, relationships, etc., we will find ourselves in constant disappointment, anger, and even shame. This can leave us in an endless cycle of fear, insecurity, and hopelessness, which was not part of Eden.

 3)        Promises fulfilled

Before their disobedience, Adam and Eve walked under the protection and fulfillment of God. No sin hindered them from experiencing all that God provided them. They were in complete unity with God and each other. However, once they disobeyed God, the promise of Eden was no longer available.

Today we experience lost and/or broken promises. We believe we have the assurance of another’s presence and support; we believe we have the guarantee of wholeness of friendship, relationships, work, etc. While we do have opportunity for this, we also may find ourselves experiencing broken, unfulfilled promises and all the pain that accompanies that brokenness.

It does not matter who, when, or where. When a promise is broken, we can experience emotions on a spectrum: from a minor setback/let down to abandonment and devastation. Yet, we keep trying to enter relationships and friendships and partnerships. Why? The echo. The God who created the Garden also created us. That longing for purity, perfection, and promises are a part of his creation, one in which “we believers also groan…for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering” (Romans 8:23).

Managing the Longing

On this earth, we will struggle with broken promises, relationships, and more. Sometimes we will be the receiver of that brokenness, and sometimes we may be the giver. To manage the longing, we would be wise to remember that until we are home, we will struggle (John 16:33). This world is not our home; we are foreigners on this earth waiting for our final destination of Heaven (1Peter 1:17).

However, even with Eden unattainable, we can still offer others what Christ has offered us. Whether we are the ones who have hurt another or have been hurt, we are called to live well (1 Cor. 10:24). We are to honor God in how we treat others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, his image bearers (2 Cor. 5:20). Even when we are hurt, how we respond matters. When we hurt others, how we respond matters. With our time on this earth, we are called to be “like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate, and humble” (1 Peter 3:8).

Moreover, we are told “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3). We are all capable of sinning and hurting each other. Therefore, trust wisely, love responsibly, and forgive often.

Final Thoughts

                  Hurts will happen, promises will be broken, and disappointments will occur. Sometimes we will receive the acts, and sometimes we will be the ones committing them. Yet the echoes of Eden remind us that there is more. There is more kindness to give and accept, more love to share and receive, and more hope to offer and gain. Moreover, we have a hope of heaven, hope of a fulfilled promise of redemption, a hope that “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:17).