Curses and a Blessing
To listen to the audio file for today, click here: ADAM-Thursday-Week1
Genesis 3:14-24
Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.*”
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made.
For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
20 Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. 21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” 23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Something to Think About
The consequences of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God had devastating, long-lasting effects. The suffering and chaos, evil and death in our world today can all be traced back to this one choice. Cause and Effect.
These negative consequences could be called curses. Many times we feel like we are cursed: that we can’t get a break, we can’t get ahead, we can’t get away from pain and suffering, that all hope is lost. There is something inside us that longs to return to the Garden of Eden, but it is always just out of reach.
However all hope is not lost because we find, in the midst of these curses, a blessing! A promise that one day one of the woman’s offspring would crush the Serpent’s head. This is a prophecy direct from God saying that someday someone would rise up to reverse these curses. Someday, because of this Messiah, we will be able to go back to the Garden of Eden and be with God.
As Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden, this promise would have given them hope. It would have been something they clung to, trusted in, during their darkest nights. It was something to put their faith in – to live as if what they hoped was true, actually was true. And it was this faith that they passed on to their children.
Questions to Think About
From today’s passage what are the curses, or negative consequences, that come about because of their choice?
Who do you think the blessing refers to? How has he made it possible for us to “go back to the Garden of Eden?”
What kind of emotions do you think Adam and Eve felt as they left the Garden?
How did God continue to provide for Adam and Eve in today’s story?
What are some things that God has provided today to help us get through this difficult life?
