A CURSED WORLD
Genesis 3:14-24
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.” (19)
chapter 3
14. So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15. And 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."
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."
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."
20. Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
23. So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1. The consequence of sin was death. It was also hardship, struggle, and pain. What was once perfect became tainted. Once they were naked and felt no shame, now they had to dress to impress or to hide their shame. Once they loved and accepted each other as they were, now cursed desires and power struggles arose in their relationships. Once they found the simple pleasures in life, now they had to work for life’s necessities.
2. For sure, we still live in a fallen world, full of sin and hardship. But God did not abandon us. God’s salvation was always in mind. It is said the first prophecy of Jesus is here, that speaks of the offspring of woman crushing the head of the serpent. God did not intend to leave us in our brokenness, but to be with us in it, and to restore us to himself and to each other. Adam could still choose to love his wife instead of rule over her and seek God’s kingdom and righteousness despite hardships. The tree of life, though out of reach, remained.
Prayer: Creator God, we are accountable for our sins, yet you are with us through it. May we experience your saving grace.
One Word: God is with us in our struggle