Punishment of Adam (Gen. 3:17-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/23/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Punishment of Adam

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 3:17-19

            Message of the verse:  “17 Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.  18  ‘Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19  By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.’”

           

            God has held Adam responsible for this first act of sin because he was not tempted to sin, but listened to his wife.  I do believe that Satan has used this ploy on more than one occasion that is using a woman to make a man fall into sin.  Adam was head over heals in love with Eve and perhaps this is the reason that he forgot about obeying God when she came to him with the fruit and asked him to eat of it, at any rate in Paul’s letter to Timothy he told him that Adam was the cause for the fall of mankind. “13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression (1 Timothy 2:13-14).

           

            God then put a curse upon the ground, and everything that grows out of the ground.  It is kind of hard to imagine what this earth looked like before the first sin, and how the ground produced the food necessary for life without even working to make any of it grow, but that was the way God had created it and that first sin has had it’s affect on everything that is on this earth including all of the plants and all of the animals. 

           

            Adam also learned that he would eventually die because of his sin and as he begin to work with the soil to provide food for his wife and himself he would have probably thought about his death that would happen some day, and also the death of his lovely wife.

            3/14/2020 8:56 AM A couple of weeks ago in our Wednesday evening service which we are studying a book by Warren Wiersbe entitled “The Strategy of Satan” the subject come up of how Satan tempted Eve and then how each fell into sin.  I asked a question about how much Adam knew about death before his wife and he sinned.  We know that there is both spiritual and physical death, but did Adam know of both of these types of death before he ate of the forbidden fruit?  I really don’t know the answer, but I feel that perhaps he did not know that much about death, but just needed to trust and obey the Lord.  3/14/2020 9:01 AM

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Just as Adam got sidetracked from listening to the Word of God, so can I, and that is why it is important to continue to read and study the Word of God each day so when those temptations come that the first thing that I will think about is the Word of God and what it has to say concerning that particular temptation.

The Word of God has been very challenging to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to direct my path today and to continue to teach me contentment.    

           

Pain in Childbirth (Matt. 3:16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/22/2006

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  Pain in childbirth

Bible Reading & Meditation                                          Reference:  Genesis 3:16

            Message of the verse:  “16 To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.’”

           

            In Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this section he said that God did curse the serpent and also the Devil, but God did not curse Adam and Eve.  I guess that Eve’s bringing forth children in pain was a consequence to the sin that she committed.  As far as having a desire for her husband to rule over her this does in no way seem like it was a curse because this seems to carry over into the New Testament and in the writings of Paul where he wrote that husbands and wives should be submissive to each other.  There is also a section in Paul’s writings where he said that wives should be submissive to their husbands.  I think what this is all about is the order of creation and that is that the man was made first and then came the woman out of man, and this too is discussed in the writings of Paul.

            I believe it was because of sin that the woman wants to rule over her husband, whereas before sin came into the world the woman’s desire was to be submissive to her husband.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  If there are any verses in the Scripture that have meaning on an everyday basis it is the ones in this section for all human life and also all of natures’ lives has been changed so very much because of the first sin that was created by our first parents in the garden.  Because of that sin I have been born with a sinful nature which only wants to sin and please the pleasures of my life, but thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ that I have received a new nature through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that was accomplished for my behalf on the cross.

The Word of God has challenged my life as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord Jesus Christ to teach me contentment and to also direct my path, for in following the path that the Lord is directing for me, even through I will not always understand it or even appreciate it, yet I will have the assurance that what He is doing in my life will be best for me and will bring honor and glory to God my Father.

Protevangelium (Gen. 3:15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/15/2006

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  The first mention of the Gospel

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Genesis 3:15

            Message of the verse:  “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.’”

            “God’s words to Satan (v-15) are called the protevangelium, ‘the first Gospel,” because this is the first announcement of the coming Redeemer found in the Bible.”

           

            Paul wrote in Galatians 4:1 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.” 

           

             The word enmity can mean hatred, it can mean hostility, and it can mean bad feelings, and so if you look at the history between Satan and the Lord Jesus Christ from the Scriptures you can see all of these things, but that is certainly not all of the story, for if you look throughout history there has always been hatred between those who belong to Satan and those who belong to God.  One example would be the Muslims and their hatred for the true people of God, and how they have killed believers whenever they get a chance to do so.  Any believer who has been killed for the cause of Christ can be seen through the eyes of this verse.  Of course the best example of what this verse is truly written for is the crucification of Jesus Christ, and this is where Satan bruised the heel of Christ, but Christ, through His victory on the cross has crushed the head of Satan, for Satan’s fate was settled at the cross and one day soon he will be put into the lake of fire as written about in the last parts of the book of the Revelation.

           

            When Jesus was on this earth he spoke to some Pharisees and told them that “you are of your father the Devil,” so indicating that the Devil has offspring just as seen in this verse.  God has called all those who have been born-again through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ His children or His offspring, which is also what this verse is speaking of.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Whenever a child is born into this world it can be called a miracle, but the bigger miracle is when a person is born from above through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for when that happens that person goes from being a child of Satan to becoming a child of God, and that miracle happened to me on the 26^th of January in the year 1974, and that was truly the biggest miracle that has ever happened to me or ever will.

The Word of God has been refreshing to my heart as I read and studied it this morning. 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord to lead me and to direct my paths, and to also have the Lord teach me contentment.  Continue to trust the Lord with the decision of what job to work at, whether to stay at the church or to go and work with Tim in the future, and also to continue to trust the Lord with the investment that we have with Andrew Lech.

The Serpent is Cursed (Gen. 3:14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/14/2006

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  The serpent cursed

                       

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Genesis 3:14

            Message of the verse:  “14 The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life.’”

           

            There is only one who is cursed in this verse, and that is the serpent, who more than likely was a creature who stood upright when he was first created, but now will crawl on his belly for the rest of his days on this earth.  Satan was the one who used the serpent and he will be cursed in the next verse. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have always been a bit confused as to why God cursed the serpent and made him crawl on the ground for the rest of his life.  I wonder if the serpent had the ability to refuse to be used of Satan in all of this.  Could it be that because of the beauty of the serpent before the fall that God did not want to leave it in that beautiful condition? 

           

            I must remember that the secret things belong to the Lord and that I am to obey the things that I know I am to obey and to try and find out the answers to my questions, but if I don’t find the answers then continue to trust the Lord.

           

            Another thing that I can learn from this passage is that I am never to be used by the evil one any more for I am sure that before I was a believer that I had been used by him because at that time I did belong to him, but that is all different because I have been purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ and belong to Him for all of eternity.  Praise the Lord for His goodness to me!

The Word of God has been a challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to direct my paths in all that I do and also to continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment.  Trust the Lord in all of the trials and decisions that need to be made, that He will give me the confidence that the decisions that I make will be the one’s He has directed me to do.

The gave Excuses and no Confessions (Gen. 3:9-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/08/2006

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Excuses not Confessions

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 3:9-13

            Message of the verse:  “9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’  10 He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’  11 And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ 12 The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’  13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”

           

            God calls out to the first couple and asks them some questions.  God know everything and therefore was not in need of information from them, but gave them a chance to tell Him what happened to them. 

           

            In verse 10 then the answer that Adam gives shows that he has died spiritually, but he never confesses this to God, only gives Him excuses for his actions.  Adam admits that he is afraid and naked, and that is why Eve and he were hiding.  In verse eleven God asks the question as to whether or not they have eaten of the fruit, and Adam begins to give God excuses in verse twelve.  It should be noted how it was that God came to Adam and Eve, for He did not come to them as a judge, but He came to them as a loving Father in order to correct their action through love, and this is the way He comes to all of His children, but as a loving Father He still has to discipline His children and He will do that to Adam and Eve.

           

            God now begins to speak to Eve and she too uses excuses, and does not confess her sin to God.  The truth of the matter is that Eve was deceived, but Adam ate of the fruit without being tempted, and therefore Adam is the one who is blamed for the downfall of the human race.

            God asked Adam what had happened because Adam was the head of his family, however he blamed Eve, but in effect he was blaming God because he said to God that the woman that He had given to her was the one who gave the fruit to him.  Then the woman will blame the serpent, but as my first pastor said, “he did not have a leg to stand on.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are far too many times in my life when I just do not own up to my sin and begin to, like Adam and Eve, make excuses for my actions instead of just coming to God with the truth confessing my sin to Him.  But also like Adam I am embarrassed and even at times afraid of my Heavenly Father, which in and of itself is wrong, for John writes in his first letter that there is no fear in love, but that perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with torment, so as my Bible Study lesson for this week explains I need to grow in my love for the Lord.  

The Word of God has been both convicting and challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to be directed by the Lord, and also to continue to learn contentment, along with growing in my love for the Lord.

Hiding from God (Gen. 3:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/06/2006

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Hiding from God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 3:8

            Message of the verse:  “8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

           

            Adam and Eve were afraid of God and therefore they hid themselves from Him when they heard Him walking in the garden in the cool of the day.  When God came to see Abraham before He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, it is said that He came walking in the heat of the day.

           

            Adam and Eve were afraid of God because of their sin, but they should have been running to God to ask forgiveness for their sin instead of running from God.

           

            It is said that the Lord rested after His creation was all created, and this was His Sabbath rest, and now He had to come to Adam and Eve because of their sin, an this interrupted God’s Sabbath rest, and it was because of sin that it was interrupted.  The entire Trinity chooses to go back to work in order to take care of this problem of sin.  When Jesus Christ came to earth He too, worked on the Sabbath to heal people, and told His accusers that His Father was working and so He too was working.  Likewise the Holy Spirit is working to bring His elect to salvation.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is all too natural to run from God whenever I sin, instead of running to God as He desires me to do.

The Word of God has been a conviction to my heart as I read it this morning, and also it has been a challenge to me.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to direct my path and to teach me contentment.  

           

The First Results of Their Sin (Gen. 3:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02/03/2006

My Worship Time                  Focus:  First Results of Their Sin

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 3:7

            Message of the verse:  “7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

            In verse six it is said that the woman saw the fruit, but now in verse seven both she and Adam could see that they were naked, which is one of the first results of their sin, for their eyes were opened and they now knew both good and evil. 

           

            The business of naked bodies is a big business in our world today, and if one looks back to the first result of sin they can realize that this business of naked bodies, especially in the porn business is very sinful. 

           

            The first thing that Adam and Eve did after they sinned was trying to take care of the problem by themselves, in that they sewed fig leaves together in order to cover up their sinfulness.  Talk about having your bad days, this was the worst day in human history.

           

            It surely would have been better to have seen this problem before it came to this, and the only way that would have been possible was to listen to the Word of God, and trust Him, but they did not do that.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can avoid a lot of problems for myself if I would only obey the Word of God, and part of that is to seek the Lord to direct my paths each day of my life, and listen to His Spirit to give me the direction that I need.

The Word of God has been very challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning. 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as I go through the trial that I am involved in, and also to trust the Lord for His will as I go to the doctors this afternoon.  To trust the Lord to direct my path, and to teach me contentment.