Women in the Bible Pt 2 | A Look at Eve A Story of REDEMPTION

If you are anything like me, you have more than a few regrets.

There are so many things that I have said and done throughout my life that I wish I would have handled differently or could remove entirely from my history. There are things in my life and memories that I have in my mind that hit the deepest parts of me. Some of them make me sad, others make me mad, and there are a few that make me cringe and feel like I am going to be sick.

Wrong choices are hard to deal with, whether they are the choices that we, ourselves, make, or the choices of others that affect us. Unfortunately, our negative choices rarely have a solitary impact; they tend to have a ripple effect, often creating the greatest waves amongst those who are closest to us, while maintaining the ability to reach the future generations.

Rarely, if ever, do we fully understand the impact that our choices will have. If, at the onset of every decision that we made, we were told the inevitable consequences, most of us would reconsider our choices, but how do we reconcile knowing better and not doing better?

Many of you have more than likely heard the story of Adam and Eve before, and you know this as the story of how sin entered the world.

You know that God created the garden of Eden and that He placed Adam and Eve there, giving them only one rule: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV). Seems simple and reasonable enough to me, and yet, there was a fall.

The Bible says that “the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV). This is the point in the story where we all want to yell at the serpent and say, “Yes! He did say that!” so we can stop sin from entering the world and prevent a WHOLE lot of heartache, but we can’t; and if we’re being honest with ourselves, knowing our own personal histories with sin, we can’t say for sure that we would have handled the situation any better than Eve did, but I digress; back to the story.

The serpent tells Eve that she will not die when she eats from the fruit, and he convinces her that God does not want her to have it because her “eyes will be opened,” and she “will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4 NIV). Ultimately, he convinces her that she is missing out on something good that God wanted to withhold from her.

The Bible says that, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you’? He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from’?” (Genesis 3:6-11 NIV).

God already knew everything that had taken place, but He asks Adam and Eve these questions anyway. He does this because He knows they are ashamed, and He wants them to stop trying to hide from Him. He knows that in order for things to get better, they will have to stop trying to hide and talk to Him about what happened. He does this for their sake, not His own. God didn’t need anything; He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sufficient, and more; He is MORE than GOOD. He knew where they were, but He asked them where they were anyway; He knew they had ate from the tree, but He asked them if they did it anyway.

He wasn’t doing that to try to rub their noses in their mistake; He did that so they could stop trying to cover up what He already knew about anyway. He loves and cares about them enough to show them how to handle their shame, guilt, and disappointment. Their situation was never going to get any better trying to run and hide from God; it could only get better in His Presence and in His Hands.

So Adam and Eve answered God’s questions. “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” (Genesis 3:12-13 NIV). After Adam and Eve exhibited the first display of blame shifting in human history, God disciplines them for their disobedience because “God is not a man that He should lie,” He couldn’t go back on His Word and just give Adam and Eve a slap on the wrist or a time-out (Numbers 23:19 NIV). Also, He is the God of justice, but He is, simultaneously, the God who “longs to be gracious to you”; so while God had to discipline His children, like any good parent would, He made provision and sacrificed for His children as well (Isaiah 30:18 NIV). “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. 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.’” (Genesis 3:14-15 NIV).

This part of the story used to fly right over my head, but now, it holds so much weight and power to me. Let me explain. The dictionary defines enmity as “a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity”; or “antagonism.” You see, God was telling the serpent, aka Satan, that not only was he going to be cursed and eating dust for the rest of his life, but that his greatest threat was going to be the woman and her offspring!

God told Satan that there will be hatred between you and the woman because it will be through her offspring that your head will be crushed! He said, “You know the one you deceived? Yeah, well, she’s my daughter, and you might have struck her heel, but ultimately, she’s gonna crush your head!” And that’s exactly what Eve did! It was through the offspring of Eve that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was born, and when He sacrificed Himself on the cross, taking on every sin-every weakness, every limitation, every deficiency, every lack, every brokenness, every shortcoming-and putting it to death, He crushed the serpent’s head!

Do you know what adds even more beauty to the story of Eve? The Bible refers to Jesus as “the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made,” which means that before God even created human beings, He had already made provision for the sin that He knew would take place (Revelation 13:8 NLT).

Eve’s story is not just the story about how sin entered the world; it is the story of how grace entered the world. Her story is about how God already had a plan. It’s about how God foreknew and predestined provision and grace to cover not only Eve, but each of us. Before Eve ever had the opportunity to eat from the tree and disobey God’s command, His plan was already set in motion. God had already decided to bless and cover her knowing that she would be disobedient and knowing the repercussions her actions would have throughout time. God still looked at her and said, “I can fix that.” He said, “I am bigger and more powerful than any decision you could ever make. I can restore it. I can redeem it. I can resurrect it.” So He did. God gifted us with the power of choice, knowing we wouldn’t always make the best ones, not to be mean, but so that we could be free. He didn’t want slaves; He wanted us to live in this world that He created as His children. Slaves don’t have a choice, but children do.

God says that whatever you’re hiding, whatever you’re ashamed of, whatever is hurting you, just bring it to Him because He is bigger than that too. Eve’s story may be the story of how sin entered the world, but it is, also, the story of God’s love, ability, desire, and plan to grace and restore you. There is already redemption assigned to your story, even if you don’t see it yet. I pray that you give whatever is hurting you to God. He already knows about it, and like Eve, He already has His plan in motion to redeem that too. God loves you. You are covered. You don’t have to hide. In fact, you can’t hide because He sees you and He is with you. Just turn to Him. Give it to Him. It can ONLY get better in the Presence and in the Hands of the One who LOVES you!

Written by Crystal Bryan.