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Authors: Jack Frost
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will. Instead of leading us closer to God, orphan thinking leads us away from Him—and prevents us from drawing close. I call orphan thinking the “shortcut spirit” because we think that
our
way will take us where we want to go more quickly than being subject to Father’s mission. Adam and Eve wanted to please God; they wanted a place in His heart, and thought that through their human effort they could get there more quickly. However, seeking to do it their way led them far away from Him instead.
There was now no turning back for Adam and Eve. Having disobeyed God, they no longer had the sense of sweet fellowship and kinship they had before. They were now thinking and acting like orphans without a home, which is why they hid when they heard the sound of God walking in the Garden. Look how quickly relationships deteriorate under an orphan spirit. No sooner had God confronted Adam about his sin than Adam turned on his wife:
“Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it”
(Genesis 3:11b-12).
Instead of protecting his wife from orphan thinking, Adam blamed her; and trust and intimacy between them were lost. Even today, because the orphan heart is so strong, genuine trust andintimacy are two of the most difficult qualities to develop and maintain in a relationship.
The loss of trust and intimacy then opened the door for guilt and shame to rush in. However, because God loved Adam and Eve so much, He would not allow them to go uncovered and live in shame. He shed the blood of an animal and used its skin to clothe them. This is a perfect illustration showing that no matter how far outside Father’s house we live, Father still wants to cover us. As Peter wrote,
“Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins”
(1 Pet. 4:8).
God is not ashamed to be called our God (see Heb. 11:16), and Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (see Heb. 2:11). As Christians covered by Jesus’ sacrifice, God does not judge us, condemn us, or accuse us (see John 3:16-18; 5:22-24; 12:47-48). He loves us and wants to cover us. Yet Adam blamed Eve for his sin and for their trouble, and she refused to take ownership of her deception, opting instead to pass the buck to the one who deceived her. Thus, Adam and Eve by default chose orphan thinking over being restored into Father’s love.
Consequently, Father God was left with no choice but to displace them from living life in a home. How it must have broken His fatherly heart when He had to drive Adam and Eve from the Garden. But they could not stay as long as they were under the sway of orphan thinking. Their orphan thinking had separated them from the Father, and so they had to leave. God drove them out for another reason as well—mercy. As long as Adam and Eve remained in the Garden, they were in danger of eating fruit from the tree of life and living forever in their alienated, orphan-heart state (see Gen. 3:22-23).
Adam and Eve’s sin and ensuing departure from Eden (home) were the source of all subsequent despair on the earth among men. Fear, anxiety, torment—they all began at this point. Mankind lost all sense of living as if he had a home. Every human born in everysubsequent generation was now born with an orphan heart and became subject to his own mission; then death, which always involves separation, entered in. The death at work in an orphan heart is separation from God, separation from any sense of having a home, and separation from friends and family because of broken trust.
All of this homelessness, despair, broken trust, separation, and alienation are why these words of Jesus are central to the Gospel: “I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”
(John 14:18). We have a home anytime we want it, whenever we are ready to give up the life of orphan thinking and return to the warm embrace of our Father’s
our
way will take us where we want to go more quickly than being subject to Father’s mission. Adam and Eve wanted to please God; they wanted a place in His heart, and thought that through their human effort they could get there more quickly. However, seeking to do it their way led them far away from Him instead.
There was now no turning back for Adam and Eve. Having disobeyed God, they no longer had the sense of sweet fellowship and kinship they had before. They were now thinking and acting like orphans without a home, which is why they hid when they heard the sound of God walking in the Garden. Look how quickly relationships deteriorate under an orphan spirit. No sooner had God confronted Adam about his sin than Adam turned on his wife:
“Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it”
(Genesis 3:11b-12).
Instead of protecting his wife from orphan thinking, Adam blamed her; and trust and intimacy between them were lost. Even today, because the orphan heart is so strong, genuine trust andintimacy are two of the most difficult qualities to develop and maintain in a relationship.
The loss of trust and intimacy then opened the door for guilt and shame to rush in. However, because God loved Adam and Eve so much, He would not allow them to go uncovered and live in shame. He shed the blood of an animal and used its skin to clothe them. This is a perfect illustration showing that no matter how far outside Father’s house we live, Father still wants to cover us. As Peter wrote,
“Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins”
(1 Pet. 4:8).
God is not ashamed to be called our God (see Heb. 11:16), and Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (see Heb. 2:11). As Christians covered by Jesus’ sacrifice, God does not judge us, condemn us, or accuse us (see John 3:16-18; 5:22-24; 12:47-48). He loves us and wants to cover us. Yet Adam blamed Eve for his sin and for their trouble, and she refused to take ownership of her deception, opting instead to pass the buck to the one who deceived her. Thus, Adam and Eve by default chose orphan thinking over being restored into Father’s love.
Consequently, Father God was left with no choice but to displace them from living life in a home. How it must have broken His fatherly heart when He had to drive Adam and Eve from the Garden. But they could not stay as long as they were under the sway of orphan thinking. Their orphan thinking had separated them from the Father, and so they had to leave. God drove them out for another reason as well—mercy. As long as Adam and Eve remained in the Garden, they were in danger of eating fruit from the tree of life and living forever in their alienated, orphan-heart state (see Gen. 3:22-23).
Adam and Eve’s sin and ensuing departure from Eden (home) were the source of all subsequent despair on the earth among men. Fear, anxiety, torment—they all began at this point. Mankind lost all sense of living as if he had a home. Every human born in everysubsequent generation was now born with an orphan heart and became subject to his own mission; then death, which always involves separation, entered in. The death at work in an orphan heart is separation from God, separation from any sense of having a home, and separation from friends and family because of broken trust.
All of this homelessness, despair, broken trust, separation, and alienation are why these words of Jesus are central to the Gospel: “I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”
(John 14:18). We have a home anytime we want it, whenever we are ready to give up the life of orphan thinking and return to the warm embrace of our Father’s
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