The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:14-15
Back to the Old Testament and the backlash of that dreadful bite of fruit. God tells Adam, Eve and Satan what the consequences of their actions will be. For women, there will be multiplied sorrows and pain in childbirth. For man, work will now be hard. For all of us, there will be no more eternal life on this side of heaven. We will experience pain and death. Sin is a big deal to God. To Satan (the devil), God says that although he will bruise the heel of God’s people (inflicting a wounding and negative effect, but not destruction), someone greater, from the seed of the woman, will bruise Satan’s head. A mortal wound with complete destruction and death. This is the first hint of Jesus’ work on earth to come. He is the one who will be victorious over Satan. As we progress through the Bible, we will read many stories of God’s people, but know that Jesus coming to die on the cross to save us and defeat sin and death was God’s plan of restoration from the beginning. Sin is now in the world. Satan is doing his “bruising” in all of our lives. We continue to fall for his lies and manipulation. We experience pain and hardship and suffering. The heel-bruising is brutal, no doubt. But have confidence knowing that sin and Satan and death will be defeated. God has a plan. He always had a plan. A plan that leads reconciliation and for us to be wholly restored and with Him forever. Our job is to believe and put our faith in His perfect plan. Questions: Have you ever given much thought to the destructive consequences of sin? Why do you think sin is such a big deal to God?
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So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Genesis 3:6-7
We have freedom to decide whether or not we want to do what God says. But because God is perfect and holy and just, our choices have consequences. The first humans listened to the lies of Satan over the truth of God. They chose to do the ONE thing that was forbidden. They had everything they could ever want or need…but they wanted more. With that choice…that bite… sin entered the world. Their eyes were open. What was once only good all around them was now corrupt. They recognized their nakedness, and filled with a new emotion – shame – they tried to hide and fix things on their own with fig leaves. Instead of owning up to their disobedience, they tried to cover it up. We fall into that trap too, don’t we? We think we can hide from our sin and conceal it with what amounts to flimsy fig leaves. But God sees and knows everything. We will soon see that those figs leaves don’t really cover up their sin, just like our efforts on our own will never cover our sins. They – and we -- need a bigger and more powerful savior. Questions: What is your first reaction when you realize you messed up and got caught? Do you quickly confess or try to cover it up? He [Satan] said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1b-5
So, things are pretty good for the first several pages of the Bible. There is no sin, no pain, no heartbreak, no toil in work, no jealousy…not even death. But it doesn’t last long. The devil is lurking around in the form of a serpent. We are told he is more crafty than any other beast of the field that God made. He seeks to plant doubt in our minds and destructive desires in our hearts. Satan’s initial words to Eve (the first woman God created to live with Adam) were,” Did God actually say…” Oh, the pain that is caused by a strategically planted seed of doubt about who God is and what He says! The devil only has a few tricks he uses, but they are very effective: questioning the goodness of God and dangling things before us that are pleasing to the eye and ego. All rooted in pride, pleasure, and power. He does it by shifting our focus on things that look, seem, feel good…but we know are only destructive. Encouraging us to look out for ourselves instead of others. Convincing us we need something we can’t or shouldn’t have. Cheering us on to chase an upper hand or elevated position. Demanding we deserve revenge. Whispering doubt about God’s love for us. The devil became the devil in rebellion against God, seeking a name and empire for himself. He is on a mission to drag us into his hell of the ongoing quest to find satisfaction and fulfillment in these things. Only our Creator can provide what truly satisfies us. Our job is to believe, trust, and obey Him. Questions: What things generally tempt you the most? Do you see the root of the devil’s tactics in what draws you to these things? The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17
Did you catch what one of the first assignments God gave man was? It was to work in the garden. We were created to work and it is a good and pleasurable thing. God also told Adam all of creation was his to enjoy. There is only one requirement…one tree is off limits for eating. Only ONE thing was prohibited. He mustn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In order for us to have free will, we must have choices. Without something being forbidden there is no choice. And God wants our love for Him to be a decision we make. He could have created us without the choice and forced us to obey Him, but that wouldn’t be genuine love. God wants our obedience and love to be something we willingly do, not something forced on us. The forbidden tree is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Can you imagine a world where not only is there no evil, but you don’t even know of its existence? It sounds perfect, doesn’t it?! God doesn’t just tell Adam not to eat of the tree, He also tells him the consequences…death. Absent of sin, there is no death. As long as Adam obeys this ONE command – avoiding the fruit of the ONE tree among ALL of the abundance around him – he remains in the eternal and perfect presence of God. Questions: Have you ever been in a situation where there were a million things you could do and one thing you couldn’t? Where does your mind usually go…to all of the things you have or the one thing you don’t? And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:2-3
Back to the creation story… God creates everything in six days and on the seventh day of creation, God rested. Have you ever thought much about this? Do you think God NEEDS to rest? The Hebrew word translated as rest means “to cease or stop; to abstain.” God rested because His work was finished; His creation was good. And while God doesn’t need rest, He modeled for us the importance of taking time to rest…to stop; to soak life in; to worship Him at a slower and more intentional pace. The statistics are overwhelming about the number of kids, teens, and adults who are just plain stressed out. We are anxious and full of worry. We are killing ourselves by going non-stop and putting excessive pressure on ourselves. Even at the beginning of everything being created, God knew this. He knew we needed to pause. He knew we were prone to burn out without rest. He knew we wouldn’t take the time to stop and look around and see the good among all of the stress and worry and work. He knows we need to rest. He knows we need to be filled with His truth, and grace, and love, and wisdom. God would soon command Sabbath rest, but on this day, He models it for us. Challenge: Take intentional time today or at some point this week to rest. Slow down with no agenda or to-do list and simply sit quietly with God. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:5-7 Unlike the other pieces of creation that God spoke into existence, we were formed by the mighty hands of God; awakened by the holy breath of God. God created Adam, the first human, from dust and breathed life into him. Life is formed from mere dust and the hands and breath of God. God makes beautiful things from ashes. The Hebrew word for breath is ruach (roo-ah), which even sounds like an exhaled breath. It is also used for the word Spirit. The Spirit of God brings us life. Imagine being Adam and feeling air being breathed into your body, starting in your nostrils, and working its way down to every part of your being. Adam comes to life for the first time and stands face to face with God. This is the first human with the breath of God flowing through him. Everything is perfect and complete and holy. This is our beginning! Question: The human body is incredible when you think about it. No two fingerprints are alike. All of our parts and organs and air and blood work together to keep us alive. What is the most incredible thing to you about the human body that God created?
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26a,27
When you look in the mirror, do you see the image and likeness of God? You should! This is how God created you. When you look around at those you interact with each day, do you see the image and likeness of God? You should! This is also how God created them. Did you catch how the words of God begin this declaration? “Let us…” Who is the “us”? Another truth about God is He is one God in three persons…God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three were there in One from the beginning. God is community. We were created for community to support and rely on one another. We weren’t created to do this life alone. It is hard and we need each other. Sometimes we will be the one encouraging and sometimes we will be the one being encouraged. Man was the last thing that was created on the sixth day. When all other created things and beings were made, God declared it, “good.” When man was created and added to the world, God declared it, “very good.” (Genesis 1:31) You are created in the image of God…and it is very good. Challenge: The next time you have a disagreement with someone or they rub you the wrong way, take a minute to remind yourself that they are created in the image and likeness of God. Do you think this could help change your mindset about them? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created… The first two things we learn about God is that He has always been here and He is a Creator. Before anything, God was here. Before atoms, dust, land, sky, water, stars, animals, humans... before it all, God was here. The way the things of the world are connected and work together is orderly and extensive. Creation is rich with intricate details, textures, colors, and smells. God is a creative Creator. How would you decide what color something should be when there were no colors? Or what shape something would be when there was no form? Or what its purpose would be? How did God create everything from nothing? God said, “Let there be…” (Genesis 1:3). God SPOKE things into existence. He imagined it, and with His WORD it was formed. Nothing is by accident. What God says happens! His Word is powerful! This is a truth we can count on always. If God can create beauty, form, and purpose out of nothing, He can create beauty and purpose out of even our messes and mistakes. He is the Master Creator. Nothing is too big or too impossible for the Creator of all things who has always been and will always be. Questions: Have you ever given thought to how everything was created or how something can be created out of nothing? What are some of the most creative aspects of God you see in the world around you? What do you think about the power of God’s Word? |
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