Spiritual Seasons: Adam

Ask 5 people how they would define spiritual seasons and you would get 5 different answers. One might use qualifiers like lows, mediums, highs, or mountain tops. Someone else might use the terms ebbs and flows. Yet another might describe the seasons as dry or overflowing. Regardless how you label them, spiritual seasons do exist. They are part of God's plan to smooth our rough edges, purify our hearts, equip us for service, and adorn us as His bride.

This study will in no way be exhaustive. My point is to sketch out the seasons in the lives of some biblical characters. Then to take note of the transition factors, and the cyclical nature of the seasons. Finally, I hope to draw some insight as to what was to be learned or accomplished within each season.

Let's start with Adam. His first spiritual season had to have been his best. He walked and talked with God. No inhibitions, no upsets, nothing to hinder their relationship in any way. Must have been serene. Then....

Seasons change. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Adam recognized his nakedness and he hid from God. The relationship became strained. God added to Adam's fear when He asked, "where art thou?" God knew Adam's whereabouts, but Adam didn't know that God knew.

Cursed by God, Adam learned of sorrow. Then he was separated from the garden and his Creator. Alienated from God, what a dismal season of one's own choosing.

Little is known about the rest of Adam's 930 years. Most every other reference to him is negative. In Eve's responses to the births of Cain and Seth, she acknowledged God as the giver of life. Given the record of Cain and Abel and their worship, we understand that they were knowledeable of God and were able to converse with Him. With this in mind, it is reasonable to assume that God still communicated with Adam and Eve. He instituted animal sacrifice as a means of covering their physical bodies and their sins against Him.

Adam had a long life and no doubt experienced spiritual seasons. Did he learn from his mistakes? There is no actual record of Adam being reconciled to God.