My Bible Blog: Genesis 3:8-24

Genesis 3:8 – 24

After Eve was deceived by the serpent, and she and Adam disobeyed God, they must have known right off that they had done something horrible.  They were afraid or feeling guilty or both, and they hid from God.  My guess is that at one time or another, we’ve all wanted to hide from God.  We close our eyes to Him, tune Him out for a while because we don’t want to face the wrong we’ve done.  However, there is no hiding from God, and we all must face the music eventually.  Isn’t forgiveness amazing?  Once we face our guilt, we have a chance to be redeemed. 

So back in the garden, God gets a hold of Adam and Eve and questions them.  Adam blames Eve; Eve blames the serpent.  What does God do?  He punishes the serpent.  He puts enmity between it and the woman (there is lots of enmity between women and snakes, right?).  He also promises that her seed would bruise his (the serpent’s) seed on the head, and that his seed would bruise her seed on the heel.  

He did bruise the heel of Jesus when He suffered on the cross, but Jesus bruised his head when he defeated him at the cross.  Though Jesus suffered, He won.  What did He win?  He won the souls of God’s children.  The devil can never have our souls as long as we have Jesus.  Now, if you give up Jesus and reject Him…well, I guess you’re on your own.  Satan has descendants as well.  Look around at all the evil in the world – they are here, and like the serpent, they are tricky.

The serpent wasn’t the only one to get punished.  Eve and all women were punished by painful childbirth.  (Thanks Eve.)  Adam was punished by having to work harder in order to provide food.  They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  They once had it easy, but they wanted more, and so they fell.  We could all learn so much from this story.  Life goes by so fast – appreciate the gifts you have been given.  Appreciate the ones who love you.  Stop looking around the corner for something more when you already have all you need. 

At the end of chapter three, we see that God makes garments for Adam and Eve to wear, as if to say, I haven’t left you in your time of trouble.  Though you have caused this calamity and made your life harder, I am still providing. 

To sum it up: 

God gives us rules for our own good. 

We break those rules.

There are harmful consequences.

God is still with us. 🙂