THURSDAY, July 23, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 3: 14 – 19                                                                                                        

GOD GREATLY MULTIPLIED EVE’S SORROW

MEMORIZE: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your con-ception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband’s, and he shall rule over you.”         Genesis 3: 16

God, the Son, is the center of the focus of the divine uncreated Godhead (cf. Psalm 2: 11, 12; Colossians 1: 15 -18). He was intro- duced in Genesis 3: 15, and presented as the Seed of the woman. He was going to be the Redeemer of Adam’s descendants. He would enter the human world, to destroy the works of the devil (cf. Hebrews 2: 9 - 14; 1 John 3: 8).

Here in our text for today’s reading, Genesis 3: 14 - 19, we are able to see how God informed the four participants who were involved in the rebellion, the devil, the snake, the woman and the man, of the consequences of their own actions. We have looked at the consequences for both the snake (cf. v. 14) and the devil (cf. v. 15). We saw how God, in telling the devil of his consequence, spoke of his encounter with the Seed of the woman, and proclaimed the Gospel of His Son. Now we come to the consequence for the woman. In v. 16, God indicated that He would “ … greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception….” The woman would experience, not just increased, but multiplied sorrow and conception. What did God mean by that? Was He setting forth the pattern, which would be applied to all women, or, was this what would belong to Eve? She was the “… mother of all living.” God was increasing her responsibility to populate the earth by conceiving more times than she would, had she not done what she did. She would experience and increase in the amount of sorrow that she would experience. We seem to have forgotten that “multiplying and filling the earth” is a part of the God-assigned purpose for couples, having sex and the woman becoming pregnant. There is a myth floating around that the earth is over-populated. There is still one group of people in our world today, who do not believe that myth and are still doing what God wants to do, to fill the earth. “… In pain you shall bring forth children; " Not only was the woman going to have to bear more of the respon- sibility and become pregnant more often, but she would experience pain in association with bringing forth children. The delivery of her children would involve pain. The New Testament tells us that her sorrow would be abated, if the children which, she bears come to accept faith in God (cf. 1 Timothy 2: 15). “Your desire shall be for your husband….” This woman had already associated herself with the exercise of that which belonged to her husband – his authority and right to exercise rule. Here God was telling her that it would become a conscious, deliberate effort on her part, to desire that which rightly belongs to her husband. No, God was not talking about her having a desire for the affection and companionship of her husband. That would not be a consequence of the wrong which she had done. Is that something which husbands experience today – their wives having the desire to compete with them and to actually take over, if not actually replace them? “…And he shall rule over you.” Adam was already exercising authority over her (cf. 2: 23; 3: 20). Whereas Adam and his wife lived in harmony with each other before, now, as a result of their rebellion against God, they would experience distasteful struggles as the woman will seek to take over and lord it over her husband. Today, we hear voices counseling the reversal of the roles, and men being counseled to do the submitting to their wives (cf. Ephesians 5: 21-31). Why was it necessary for Christian believers to have been commanded to practice submission (cf. Colossians 3: 18; Titus 2: 4, 5). What God said to the woman applied to her. The residual effects belong to her descendants. Women today still bear the same burden and load, because of her action and God’s consignment. Some teach, in an effort to be politically correct, that Christ has removed the curse. Ask any sound-minded woman what part of Eve’s consequence she still experiences. Let her tell you!

We ought to learn from this, that God takes the refusal to submit to His will seriously, and that sin has consequences and a penalty. It is true that God forgives our sins, but we still experience the conse-quences of our sins. We are better off submitting to God’s will rather than trying to circumventing it and doing our own thing. Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent into acting contrary to God’s word. She had to face the consequences, and so do we, when we decide to go against God’s revealed will.

PRAY: “LORD, God Almighty, I bless You and praise You for who You are. Thank You for letting me know that You take sin seriously. LORD, please help me to take sin and its consequences seriously too. Please help me to live my life to please You, in Jesus’ strong name. Amen.