I have been attending a weekly Bible study on Tuesday nights since being here in Collonges. It's just a few of us, but that's okay. We've been studying Genesis the last few weeks and last night we had a discussion about chapter 3. I have read Genesis before, "Our little Friend", "Guide", family worships and some of my own devotion time helped contribute to my education of the "In the beginning" story. I think the last time I read it in it's entirety was sometime in middle school but that's besides the point. It's self explanatory right? God makes the world, God makes man, then woman. They fall in love. Eat from the tree, then human race is almost doomed, Jesus to the rescue, Amen.
There's more than that though. We looked closer, dug deeper to find some very enlightening things.
Among the many points in this chapter, here's what suck out to me:
Verse 20- "Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living."
I noticed that throughout the time Adam and Eve had been together before the fall he had called her 'woman'-
Chapter 2 verse 23
The man said,
This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman'
for she was taken out of man.
I think to myself, immediately after 'woman' gave him the fruit and they realized their vulnerability everything changed. Maybe at that point, they felt that they were no longer "one". Something wasn't vibing anymore. Woman had come from man but he couldn't trust her anymore. Things were different. He named her Eve. He felt hurt for the first time. Separation occurs.
Man's curse was that he would toil with the land for the rest of his life. Nature wouldn't work with him but against him. Men who burry themselves in their work today possibly as a distraction? Avoidance possibly?
Woman's curse was that she would have pain in childbearing and that her desire would be for her husband. So true, even today. I don't care how feministic or tough you are (myself included of course) we all desire men. We want to please them, be recognized by them, be their treasure or less. Media tells us all the little "secrets" we should know in order to keep our men around.
We messed up big time.
I often wonder what would have happened if?
if Adam hadn't eaten the fruit and asked God to spare Eve's life. I mean really for beings who had never experienced the emotions of sin; blame, shame and nakedness, they were intelligent enough to immediately think to themselves, "umm let's sew some fig leaves together because we shouldn't be exposed like this" they should have been intelligent enough to think, at least Adam, to deny the fruit and ask for some kind of alternative plan.
if Adam really loved 'woman' than maybe he would've asked to die in her place. That would have been romantic.
That was not the case however and we cannot turn back the clock. We can however see that even from the beginning man and woman have had their issues. Sin not only placed a wedge between us and our Maker, but between each other as well.
So what do we do? We hurt each other, want each other, loathe one another, "need" the other, deceive each other, love each other, make idols of each other... the list goes on. Thank goodness for God's love.
I am highly interested in the human psyche, and the way that men and women relate to each other fascinates me. How can we learn to love each other truly and become "one" again the way God wants? So many walls have been built, innocent hearts betrayed, and hopeful spirits crushed. Trust issues, love issues,compatibility issues, all kind of issues... what fascinates me even more is that God intended such deep, and meaningful relationships for the three of us: man, woman, and Him. Unfortunately, it's not that easy but there is a way.
Accept God's love for you.
Love Him back.
Trust Him. Then,
Copy Him: Love others.
I do believe that the way we can learn to love is by learning how God loves. Maybe this won't always make sense, we are human and cannot comprehend what God expects of us. We just walk blindly. We walk until we fall right where he needs us to be, with who we need to be with.
We are fallen, but not lost.
Hebrews 10:36
'You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.'
I think that goes for everything, even relationships. All types.
We are all vulnerable. That is a fact of life.
One day Adam and Eve will be man and woman again. One day.
