Genesis 3:14-19 “So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.” And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
“So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” At this point, those of you who like snakes and lizards are probably protesting, “But why curse the serpent? Why do snakes have to suffer because Satan took on the form of a snake while tempting Eve?
What was the appearance of the serpent before he tempted Eve? Obviously, the serpent was very attractive and charming and was not crawling around on his belly; otherwise, condemning him to do so would not have been a punishment. Obviously, before the temptation, the serpent was able to talk to Eve and to convince her to disobey God. It’s even possible that the serpent had conducted many conversations with Eve before convincing her to eat the forbidden fruit; after all, to be an effective tempter, you should establish a good relationship with your target. What was the serpent eating before the temptation? Certainly not dust. Was Satan able to take on various appearances and merely took on the form of a serpent or did Satan overwhelm the serpent’s personality and use its body? Did these events really happen at all or is this part of Scripture a fable to explain why snakes crawl on their bellies? We will only get some of the answers to these questions when we reach heaven.
“To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.” Childbirth is no joke! Any woman who has given birth knows how painful it can be. Women who love their husbands desire them. But what about the phrase “he will rule over you.”? Unfortunately, abusive men have misquoted this phrase to justify any amount of physical/mental/emotional abuse they mete out to their wives; meanwhile, such abuse has never been God’s intention.
Ephesians 5:21-33 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (This does not mean wives are doormats or punching bags! Acknowledging authority does not involve abuse!)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
“And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
In Eden, gardening was very simple and relaxing. Walk around, pick fruit, rest. Now Adam must struggle to raise crops. Ask any farmer and he/she will tell you that thorns, thistles, and weeds are the bane of a farmer’s existence. Removing weeds manually or with implements is hard work. Removing weeds with chemicals allows the chemicals to leach into the soil, poisoning the ground water. Pope John the 23rd used to joke that there were three ways to go to ruin: wine, women, and farming, and that his father had chosen the least exciting of the three. (His father was a farmer!)
Whether or not you accept the story of the Garden of Eden as being true, the fact remains that our disobedience creates barriers between us and God, shattering our peace. How can we get peace? Submit to God. Confess your sins to Him and ask for His forgiveness and for the ability to live as God wants you to.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we confess that we have sinned and grieved You. Forgive us and help us to live to please You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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