#BibleLesson Expressions of Faith. Paradise Lost. Genesis 2-4
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Genesis 3:1-12
God didn’t make humans zoo animals or lab rats.
He chose to speak to humans from the get-go.
God’s plan included daily walks with him in a garden of earthly perfection.
There were no trials. Except…
- Satan entered the picture in the form as a snake, enticed Eve, who convinced Adam to eat the only thing in the garden that was off-limits to the two humans.
Even if you don’t consider the Satan/Apple incident as a trial, what happened next has to qualify; they were expelled from paradise. See Genesis 3:16-24.
- Plants need tending.
- Weeds appear.
- Baby births are painful.
- Brothers have conflicts, the last of which ends in the first murder.
The first trials begin soon after the apple-eating incident.
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 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.
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 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.
Genesis 3:16-19
The rest of the Biblical record of Adam and Eve’s lives leaves a lot to our imaginations.
We know that sometime later, they begin to call on God. Genesis 4:26b
While that suggests a change in outlook, many of the people listed in the Genesis genealogies were far from saints.
- Trials continued.
- They are still around in 2020.
What's the solution?
- Be like Adam and Eve in the beginning and walk with God through Scripture and prayer every day.
- Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and accept that gift.
- Act on promptings from the Holy Spirit in your daily living.
That's all part of God's gift of salvation through Jesus.
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