An Old African Legend

When I lived in the Congo I was told an old tribal story that had been passed down for generations. The story answered the question of why God no longer walked freely with humans. Before I tell you the story however, I need to describe a few things about preparing Pondu for eating.

Pondu is the manioc leaf.
The mortar is the bowl.
The pestle is a heavy stick used to crush the pondu inside the bowl. It is lifted high into the air and slammed down into the bowl of pondu.

Years ago when God walked freely around the village, the women of the village crushed their pondu with pestles as they do even today. But when the women lifted their pestles into the air before bringing it down into the bowls, the pestles pushed into God's stomach, which annoyed him. So he told the women to stop what they were doing. However, the women did not listen to God so he left the village.

In the center of Africa, long before White men came to the villages; long before the Bible was introduced to Africans, there was a story that explained to a tribe that God had left them and was no longer with them. The story of God's departure reaches the depths of human understanding. It explains that there is a separation between God and humanity.

The Bible also tells us that there is a separation between God and humanity. Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve lived with God in a garden that was made for them with all types of fruit trees and plants for food. Adam and Eve were told not to eat from one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve took from it, ate and then gave to Adam who also ate. Both disobeyed God and for that they were banned from the garden and all of humanity was separated from God.

Like the African legend, Genesis tells us that there is a profound separation between God and humanity. My next blog will describe the solution to the problem of separation.

SCRIPTURE FOR CONSIDERATION

After sending Adam and Eve out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,... without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).