A Daddy's Gotta Do What a Daddy's Gotta Do

This may surprise you, but when I was growing up, I had a temper. I had drastic mood swings, so drastic I’m sure my parents wondered if I had some psychiatric disorder. I could walk into the den with one attitude and pass back through in another one – I’m dreading puberty with my own kids (all prayer is appreciated).


One day when Lori and I were home alone, she and I got into an argument. I’m sure she provoked it. She was a very good instigator despite what she might say. I got mad and in a huff went to my room and slammed the door. Showed her! Put the exclamation point on the end of that spat for sure!


After a little while and I had calmed down and had flipped to a different mood, I decided to come out of my bedroom. I twisted the doorknob and nothing happened. I yelled at Lori to stop holding onto the doorknob, and she said she was in the bathroom. She came and let me out. All I could figure out in my hormonal, pea-brain was that somehow I had jammed the mechanism in the door knob. I nicely asked Lori to get into my room, and I was going to slam it again to see if I could unjam it before mom and daddy got home. Do you see the logic? Lori reluctantly went inside, and I slammed the door. Lori turned the knob from the inside – nothing. I turned the knob to let her out – nothing.

Then I heard some whimpering from inside my room. Lori had just realized she was stuck in my room. She thought she was stuck until mom or daddy got home, but we got her out through the window. The consequences of my choosing not to exercise self-control was a broken doorknob. See, daddy took that broken doorknob off my door and didn’t replace it for A MONTH! That meant every time Lori walked by, she could look in the hole and see what I was doing. Perfect for antagonizing!

Sin has consequences because we serve a just God, a righteous God.

I’d like to look at the consequences of the fall of man. God addresses the serpent first because he was the instigator. I doubt the serpent was always evil. Of all the animals, fowl, reptiles, Satan chose the serpent…no wonder I don’t like snakes. Here’s the thing, Satan used the snake, and the snake gets punished. Satan can use people too – make sure you don’t fall into that same category. The serpent receives the consequences. It happens.

Just because Satan slithers himself or tries to wheazle his way into your life, heart, thought and actions doesn’t mean you have to let him. If you do allow him this privilege, good things will not follow. In Genesis 3:15, we also see where God gives Satan his due. Satan is cast down. In the end, Satan gets what’s coming, and I’ve read the end of the book to know that Satan gets his butt kicked. God is victorious.

It is because God is victorious that we as Christians know we can overcome. We may get knocked down, but we get back up. We have hope. We have a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Personally, I wonder how the snakes got around before the fall? As a result of the fall, they have to crawl on their belly and eat dirt which means before the fall they must not have been on their belly nor did they eat dirt. Right? I bet they look like walking sticks.

If you notice, God curses the snake, but also the relationship of the snake and the woman and her offspring. God doesn’t want us in relationships with snakes, with evil people. He does whatever is necessary to protect His children just like we don’t want our children hanging around the wrong group of friends, God is the same way. He nipped that relationship in the bud! A Daddy’s gotta do, what a Daddy’s gotta do. God put hostility between the snake and the woman. He made it impossible to maintain communication – taking away a cell phone, blocking a phone number, discontinuing Facebook and e-mail accounts (get the picture?).

Had Eve just realized the talking snake wasn’t a good thing…if we just realized the unhealthy habits and behaviors we have…Had we realized the heart and intention of the person who used us – This is why it is imperative that we walk with our Father at all times. We must be listening for His voice because there are dire consequences when we don’t.