Order Out of Chaos - Chapter 3: Choosing Chaos

Anxiety feels like something that just happens to us. We believe it’s a sudden storm that rolls in without warning, leaving us drenched in fear amid an inner landscape littered with the debris of our shattered peace. But, is it really so unpredictable and uncontrollable? We don’t like to admit it, but much of the anxiety we experience in our lives flows from our insistence that we know better than God. If we’re being totally honest, our anxiety is oen of our own making and is a direct result of our deeply-rooted desire to be enthroned as sovereign ruler over all things. In our vain desire for control, we attempt to seize authority over things not in our control, and fail to control the one thing that truly is ours to command — Ourselves. 

Genesis 3 is the story of the moment humanity decided that they should “be as God”. (Gen 3:5) In the story of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and exile from the paradise of Eden, we witness the beginning of a pattern of disobedience whose echo has reverberated in the hearts of humanity throughout the ages. By rejecting God’s good and perfect order, we have willingly embraced the chaos inherent in our insistence that we can, and should, rule over all. 

Misplaced Authority Produces Anxiety 

Genesis 3 opens with a serpentine whisper, “Did God really say…?” (3:1) With that question, suspicion and doubt was planted in the minds of mankind. The serpent doesn’t begin by encouraging open defiance of God’s boundaries; instead he starts with a slight distortion of reality, a suggestion that perhaps the created order of things isn’t truly as it appears on the surface. Perhaps you’re not as limited a creature as you think you are. Perhaps God is withholding something from you, not for your own good, but for His. “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (3:4-5) 

The real temptation for Eve isn’t the fruit itself. The forbidden fruit can be seen as an allegorical representation of humanity's desire for omnipotent power, and symbolic of the temptation to overstep divinely ordered boundaries. This pivotal moment is emblematic of our hand grasping for control of all that is meant to be in the hand of God alone. 

Adam and Eve were made in God’s image, giving them the highest status and authority within His creation. Their designation as God’s representative stewards gied them with the innate ability to subdue and cultivate the creation. But that wasn’t enough. They wanted supreme authority - God’s authority. Mankind desired the ability to define the rules for themselves, to transcend their limits as created beings, and to possess the omnipotence that belongs only to their Creator. 

Much of our anxiety is rooted in this desire to exceed the inherent boundaries and limitations of our mortal nature. We are not equipped to carry the weight of omniscience and sovereignty over the universe, yet we foolishly desire to heap these burdens upon our weak and inadequate shoulders. The result of our refusal to accept our mortal limitations is anxiety, fear, and the torment of our own helplessness in the face of all that we cannot control. We are not, and can never be, God. We cannot hold all things together, and when we try, we only tear ourselves apart. 

Naked and Afraid: The Anxiety of Unfiltered Reality 

The moment Adam and Eve eat the fruit, their eyes are opened — not to unlimited power, but to undeniable weakness. “They realized they were naked…” (Gen. 3:7). The knowledge they gained through their disobedience didn’t elevate them, it exposed them for what they were; inherently limited and fallible. The covering of their nakedness wasn’t merely a response to their observation of their external physical state — it was a desperate attempt to shield themselves from the internal spiritual consequences of their desire to become what they were not designed to be. 

This is the essence of our anxiety: the internal unraveling that results from our attempts to control what only God has authority to control. We have been given authority to subdue and rule over creation (Gen 1:28), but we have not been granted authority over the natural order or its governing design. God has entrusted us to rule over what He has created, not how He has created it. When we fail to understand this distinction, we are choosing to live a life of crippling anxiety and crushing defeat. 

Our designation as subduers of creation is nowhere more important than in being subduers of ourselves. When we fail to govern our thoughts and our choices, chaos naturally ensues. When we refuse to put our trust in God, we are le with nothing else to trust in but our own weak and limited abilities. We are relying on ourselves to control what is not within our power, and this sort of misguided self-reliance will always lead to anguish and torment. In the midst of our difficulties we must genuinely believe, “I’m not in control of this situation, but I know that God is”. True peace begins with our willingness to acknowledge that we are not God. 

Missing the Mark: What Sin Really Means 

The Hebrew word for sin, אהָטָּחַ) chatta’ah), means to miss the mark. To sin means we have gone off course and failed to hit a target set before us. Adam and Eve missed the mark by attempting to seize what was not theirs — authority over the created order, knowledge apart from God, and autonomy in place of submission. They exchanged the peace of trusting in God and His perfectly ordered boundaries for the anxiety of hopelessly attempting to redraw them according to their own design and desires. 

Today, we continue to miss the mark. 

• We try to control people, outcomes, and futures we have no ability to control. In so doing, we heap burdens on ourselves we are not capable of carrying. 

• We willfully neglect the internal work of self-control, character, and surrender to God’s authority — the very things God did entrust to us. 
• We continually exhaust ourselves pretending we are “as God” - All-powerful, all-knowing, and capable of bending and shaping reality to our own will. 

And we wonder why we are so anxious and afraid! 

The origin of our anxiety is often not external stressors and chaos; it’s the natural consequence of internal rebellion and our refusal to “let go and let God”. 

Grace in Response to Failure 

The most powerful part of Adam and Eve’s story isn’t what they lost in their rebellion — it’s what they gained in God’s response. He comes searching, lovingly calling out to them, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:8) — not because He’s lost, but because they are. 

As a result of their disobedience, God imparts severe consequences on His most favored and cherished creation. They are banished from the perfect paradise where they once walked alongside the God of the universe in mutual love and harmony. (3:23-24) They are sentenced to a lifetime of labor and toil and to bear the burdens of pain and hardship and uncertainty. (3:16-19) The consequences of their rebellion are dire, yes, but entirely fitting. They desired self-reliance, and that is exactly what they received. But even in God’s necessary judgment, He shows His tender mercy. “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). 

God Himself provides a covering for their nakedness of which they had been so ashamed and afraid. In place of their self-made, inadequate fig leaf coverings, He gives them something sturdy and lasting. A sacrifice is made to cover their shame. God’s taking of an animal’s life in Eden to cover the flesh of sinful mankind is our first glimpse of the coming Gospel: A gracious and loving God covering the consequences of humanity’s sin through a merciful sacrifice. 

The ultimate and permanent covering of our iniquity and inadequacy would come thousands of years later through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the spotless Lamb of God who was “...pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities”. (Isaiah 53:5) The atoning sacrifice of Christ wraps us in the covering of righteousness itself, and restores mankind to our intended place of harmonious fellowship with God. 

What Are You Trying to Control? 

Genesis 3 invites us to ask hard questions of ourselves and the reasons for our mental and spiritual brokeness: 

• What am I trying to control that God never gave me authority over? 
• Where am I neglecting the thing God has asked me to control — my responses, my heart, my willingness to trust in Him and His design? 
• What misguided sense of entitlement or blame am I hiding behind, and what truths about myself am I avoiding? 

Sometimes, our anxiety isn’t just circumstantial, it’s willingly chosen through our unwillingness to submit to God’s authority. Our anxiety reveals what we believe about God’s trustworthiness and our role in His story and place within creation. The good news is that even when we miss the mark and fail to fulfill our purpose by submitting to His will, God still searches for and calls out to us. He draws near to us, not to wound, but to heal (Job 5:18), not to tear down, but to restore. 

Closing Reflection 

We were never designed to be sovereign rulers over the complexities of a universe that we can never hope to fully understand. Instead, we were made to walk in step with the One who has full authority over all things, knowing that He, “...works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”. (Rom 8:28) When we try to claim control over what only God can govern, we invite unnecessary anxiety into our lives. But when we 

surrender — when we return to our proper place as image-bearers and not Creator — we can find peace amidst the chaos. 

The God who mercifully clothed Adam and Eve offers to cover us in the peace of Christ and give us rest from our self-imposed burdens today. In Christ, we’re invited to lay down our false sense of control and endless striving. We are invited to enter into true rest by trusting in God’s all-powerful goodness and faithfulness. (Matthew 11:28-30) The hands that formed us from dust now offer to grasp our own saying, “...’Do not fear; I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13) 

Reflection and Application 

What am I trying to control? - Take out the list you’ve been working on — the one where you named the areas of disorder in your life. This time, identify the items that reveal a desire for control over something that doesn’t actually belong to you: 

• Are you obsessing over someone else’s choices? 
• Are you trying to predict the future or manage an outcome only God can oversee?
•  Are you carrying fear about things far beyond your reach? 

Circle one of those items and write next to it: “Not mine to carry.” 

Then, take a moment to talk to God. Confess the ways you’ve overstepped your created limits, and ask Him for help to release your desire for control and for the strength to return your focus to what is in your hands. 

God has not asked you to be all-knowing or all-powerful. He’s only asked you to trust Him. 

Restore what is yours to steward - While there are things outside your control, there are also things God has clearly given you to tend. Return to your list and identify one area where you’ve avoided taking responsibility: 

• A habit that needs to change 
• A relationship you need to mend 

• A space in your home that reflects your inner chaos 

Choose one small act of obedience that restores order — a conversation, a prayer, a boundary, or even just making your bed or cleaning off a cluttered counter. 

This isn’t about productivity, it’s about realigning yourself with your design. When you govern what’s been entrusted to you — your actions, your choices, your space — you step back into the peace of your proper place as a creature in the image and under the care of a loving Creator. 

Prayer: 

Father, 

You are God, and I am not. Forgive me for the times I’ve tried to hold the weight of the world in my hands — a burden I was never created to bear. Forgive me for trying to control what belongs only to You while neglecting the care of my own heart, mind, and actions. 

Lord, I surrender the places where I’ve overstepped my limits. I lay down the fears, plans, and outcomes I’ve tried to control. Teach me to rest in Your wisdom and trust Your order. 

Help me to tend what You’ve given me — my thoughts, my choices, my relationships — with faithfulness. And when I feel anxiety rise, remind me that peace comes not from knowing all things, but from knowing You. 

Cover me, as You covered Adam and Eve. Clothe me in Your grace and lead me back into the safety of Your presence. Amen.