Genesis 3

Hopefully you are reading ahead. One chapter a day is not much to ask for. And God only ask that you do as much as you can. To learn the bible I have picked to do a chapter a day but I am also reading ahead. At this point I have already started in Exodus but revisiting each chapter in Genesis every day. You only have to do as much as you can handle or as much as you have time to do. But I ask you, how much time are you willing to give God, because He has given every minute of his time to you. Think about it. 

Here we go!

When we left off in Genesis 2 we had just gotten to where God created woman for Adam. 

In Genesis 3 this woman comes across a serpent who made the Woman questions God's command. God told them not to eat fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden. But the serpent tells the woman that she will not die like God said she would but that eating the fruit will make her like God, knowing good an evil. So the woman ate some of the fruit.

Now, most people think that the serpent was the devil. But I ask you to reread the beginning of this chapter. It says nothing of the serpent being Satan. It is a serpent, a snake and a representation of temptation. 

The woman took some fruit to her husband, Adam, and told him to eat it too. Then their eyes were opened to the fact that they were naked. So they made coverings out of fig leaves. When they heard God they were ashamed and hid. 

When God finds them and ask them why they hide Adam lay blame on his wife and she lay blame on the serpent. Funny that no one took responsibility for their own actions. Because of what they had done God cursed them. The serpent was cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust. This always makes me think! Before the serpent convinced Eve to eat the fruit, did he have legs? What did the serpent look like BEFORE he was cursed to move around on his belly?

Then God tells the serpent "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15)  Makes you wonder what kind of relationship we would have had with snakes before all this...

Then God comes to the woman and tells her of her curse. Ladies, we have all heard the story. You know what came of this, childbirth. Painful childbirth (or so I am told it is painful). And that her husband, women's husbands, will rule over her. 

Adam did not escape the wrath of God. God cursed the ground so that working the ground and growing food would not be easy. Adam, man, would have to work the ground to grow food and it would be painful. Have you seen a farmers hands? Have you seen a farmers face? The battle with crops is not a fun or easy battle. Those of us who do not farm take for granted all the hard work that goes into it. 

Then Adam named his wife Eve. Finally the woman has name! Eve means mother of all living. Because of her sin and God's curse, Eve would now birth the children that would fill the earth.

God then gave Adam and Eve clothes made of animal skins. Even though God was angry with what they had done, He still loved them, He still loves us!

Once we get to verse 22 is where I start wondering about a lot of things. First off, God says "The man has become like one of us..." is He talking to the Angels? That is what I am assuming. Then he says "He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." I am, again, assuming that before Adam and Eve gained knowledge of good and evil they were allowed to eat from the tree of life. Meaning they would never die. Which is what makes verse 19 make sense. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." 

This alone makes you realize how much Adam and Eve lost by eating from the tree God had forbade them from. They had everything, but were not allowed ONE thing. When they took the one thing God kept them from they lost everything. There is a lesson here my friends. In this one chapter alone. God knows what is best for us. He gives us what we need. He even shows us what we can't have, what others have, and he tells us it is not for us. Should we reach for it anyways we are only hurting ourselves. We need to start obeying God!

In the end of this chapter Adam and Eve are cast out of their perfect world. Eden is closed to them and a Cherubim and a flaming sword guard the Garden of Eden. We have a perfect place waiting for us once we leave earth. Do you want to ignore God and lose it?

I know this is long, but there is so much in this chapter. It is the first lesson in the bible and the most important. Listen and trust God.

Read Genesis 4 for tomorrow! 

Much Love, 

Heather