Lessons from Eve

Staying close to God, protects us from attacks.

I sat in on an adult Sunday school class a few weeks ago. They are journeying through Genesis, one of my favorite books of the Bible. There’s just so much that happens in that book. The world gets created. Humanity gets created. Humanity falls. The flood occurs and all kinds of other major events.

On this particular Sunday, they were discussing the incident in chapter three, where Eve takes the apple from the serpent and changed human history forever.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I have pictured Eve talking to a snake and taking advice from it, I have found myself thinking she must have been a complete bubble head. What was she thinking? I mean, who would listen to a snake? I don’t even like to be in a room with one under glass.

But, the beauty of community Bible discussion is the facts that get brought out. First of all, we were reminded that at the time, there was no fear between man and animals. In other words, they could literally stroke a lion’s mane as it walked by. Can you imagine?

Then another fact caught my  attention and remained on my mind for days. The Hebrew word for serpent means, “shiny upright creature.” The slithering creature we think of when we think of a serpent, is an entirely different creature.

That information rattled around in my head for days as it made me look at Eve in a different light. Would I be more likely to listen to information from a shiny upright creature than a snake? Probably. No one ever accused Satan of being stupid. Of course, he would appear to Eve in some kind of pleasing form.

I feel like there are at least a couple of lessons in my newfound information.

First of all, it’s always wise to remember that we have an enemy who likes to exploit our weaknesses whatever they may be. To fight him off, we have to stay close to God in prayer and know what the Bible says about how we are supposed to live and act. We can bet that he does.

But, secondly, I am reminded that we have a tendency to try to look down on others for their sins, but rationalize our own. Think about it. When we find out that someone has lung cancer, what’s the first thing we ask? Did he smoke? It’s as if we want to make that cancer deserved somehow. We often have the same reaction when we learn someone has some type of addiction. We like to believe that someone definitely brought that upon themselves.

Eve’s story reminds us that we all have weaknesses. No one is perfect. We are all sinners and we are all capable of falling hard. We all have a common enemy. But, her story also reminds us that there is redemption. God provided clothing for them. He punished them, but He still loved them.

May Eve remind us to stay focused on God and to remember that we all need grace from time to time, whatever our transgressions may be. Perhaps you needed reminding today.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂