– Secret Place Insights –
Dear One, as I stood talking to a young mother-to-be who was suffering with nausea and exhaustion, the early stages of pregnancy, I chuckled, “If that ole’ Eve hadn’t given into temptation, you might not be suffering right now.”
My next thought was, before God ever punished Eve, she probably regretted having had eaten from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:17 & Chapter 3). I bet that apple, or whatever the forbidden fruit was, didn’t even taste very good to her? For when I eat something that I know I shouldn’t have, I seldom enjoy it. I am positive, and sometimes grateful, that guilt messes with my taste buds.
While on that train of thought, a sort of ‘cartoon’ caption came to mind. Eve was standing just outside the Pearly gates of heaven, greeting only adult female arrivals. She apologetically said to each, “I am sorry for the pain you suffered in childbirth. It was my fault. I should have never listened to that horrible Snake-in-the-Grass.” At that an elderly woman passed through the gates, turned and replied, “Oh just forget about it, honey. We forgive you.” With that Eve’s shoulders relaxed a bit, but that was only until the spinster turned and said, “Of course, I’ve never had a baby.”
The pondering was kind of funny, kind of sad. For I think most of us realize that if it had not been for Adam and Eve, who first sinned, it could have been you or me. For the fact that it wasn’t, I am grateful. Oh, I know that I sin. I’d rather I didn’t, but hard as I try, I cannot…not…do it – to some degree, some degrees larger than others. God’s standard is perfection, and I have not yet come close to a gold-star day, not even on my best of days. It is true, that the closer I draw to God, the more I live according to His teaching. BUT the more I understand His teaching, the more I understand, in light of God’s holiness, how unholy, or sinful, I am. For God desires that not only my actions, but that my every thought honors Him. Thankfully, God is the God of the Impossible, and for the impossible, He offers Jesus, and the Indwelling Holy Spirit.
Even so, a life lived with the desire to please God, as best one can, though difficult, is spiritually blessed and wonderfully purposeful. For there is no higher calling then that of being in the service of God Most High. And thankfully, after sincerely taking Jesus as our Savior, repenting of our sins, and living for God the Father, God looks upon us with undeserved merit, which if we are wise, we will treasure.
But even with that undeserved merit, what God said to Eve after she sinned, as recorded in Genesis 3:16a, “…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children…,” still stands. For the battle between good and evil continues…and to think, it all started over a food choice. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me!
“And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
The righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:9
Blessings,
Susanne
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