Human wondering and divine direction

"The serpent said to the woman : You certainly will not die ; for God knows that in the day that you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3. 4, 5

"The Lord said to Cain... you will be wandering and wandering on the earth." Genesis 4. 12

Jesus said to him : "I am the way, the truth and the life." John 14. 6

From Genesis, the book of beginnings, we discover the spiritual drift of man. Created by God to live in his proximity, he chooses independence and covets the title of god that makes him shine Satan. Abandoning his status as a dependent creature, he must then assume his life alone. Cain, the first son of our first parents, kills his brother ; he becomes wandering and wandering on the earth. Humanity is sinking deeper and deeper into evil, until God declares that "the imagination of the heart of man is evil from his youth" (Gen. 8:21). This intelligent creature is obviously turned to evil, "there is no righteous, no, not even one" (Rom 3:10). Sad report ! But the story continues and the spiritual and moral drift increases. Also during the long human history of wanderings and catastrophes, God has repeatedly intervened by the voice of the prophets to show men their bewilderment and to point out the path that leads to him.

Thus, at the time chosen by him, God comes, by an ultimate effort, to reveal to us in the person of his Son the direction to follow. Jesus, this disturbing and endearing man, then travels the paths of our earth marked by our sins. The luminous path drawn by Jesus contrasts with the dark, closed and solitary path of the incredulous man. He has an astonishing authority, that of God himself, and declares to those who toil, who grope in the spiritual night and who become aware of it : "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).

He who recognizes himself incapable of assuming his life without God discovers in Jesus, by the new birth, the path of light that the Son of God has traced for him.

If trials still mark this new path, they are then lived in the company of Jesus. Hope illuminates life. Even death is a gain : it is the end of the path of the earth, it is to be with Jesus forever.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)