“Why did Adam and Eve skip childhood?”
This question came to my attention from an inquisitive nine-year-old. It’s an adorable question, but it is rather odd, isn’t it, that the very first parents – the prototype of all parents to come – had no knowledge or experience of childhood themselves?
Did Eve have any idea what the Lord God was talking about when in part penalty of her transgression He announced “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.” (Gen. 3:16)? I wonder. And what a surprise it must have been when the first ever human child, Cain, was born! It must have been with gasp of amazement that Eve exclaimed “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man!” (Gen. 4:1). Surprise, surprise!
But parenting has always been an untrained profession. Some exasperated parents even accuse the omniscient God of not understanding. “God never had children,” they whine. But then again, God has us, and according to the Population Reference Bureau about 107 billion of us to date with seven billion of us alive today. If you know any of them, you’ll know He has His Hands full!
So perhaps the Almighty wanted our first parents, all parents, to struggle through the uncertainties of little free-willed critters running amok just as He struggles… endangering themselves in their disobedience yet greatly loved and longed for by the One Who gave them life.
Being a parent should train us in the patience and persistence of God. It should also motivate us to be better children of our heavenly Father ourselves, for we learn by parenting some wee bit of the frustrations we cause Him.
“Therefore… As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…” (1 Pet. 1:13-15).
Why did Adam and Eve skip childhood? Perhaps the best answer one might give a nine-year-old is this: to help them become good children themselves, good children of God.
Press on…
Got a question? Use the Contact page and send It to me. We’ll search the Word for God’s answer.
thebrokenrunner 