My Thoughts on My Weekly Bible Reading ~ Genesis 3

I love the Lord. I have found His word to be wise, discerning, and the Holy Spirit has guided my turning of those pages on many occasions when I did not know what to pray, or what to think, or what to feel.

I know that the Lord is GOOD all the time, and that His wisdom is above my own.

I trust Him completely.

But, for a long time I have considered the "curse" in Genesis 3 to be.... unfair.... no...

Unbalanced.

Let us read it......

To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;

In pain you shall bring forth children;

Your desire shall be for your husband,

And he shall rule over you.”

Then to Adam He said,
“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you,
saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

You see, having read further, I know that after the Flood, the 'curse' that was placed on men, the curse of the ground, was lifted.

WHY wasn't the curse on women lifted too?

I don't mean to whine. But I quite simply didn't understand. I don't believe for one second that God loves my husband, or my brother, or Joe down the street, more than He loves me. Why would He lift their curse, and leave mine?

Now these thoughts of mine, of course are not appropriate for my small homeschooled children. When they are older and wiser, made of tougher stuff, and/or when I am older and wiser, and have a better grasp of the word of the Lord. But, my daily bible reading is not just for my little one's ears. It is not just for their edification and encouraging and strengthening and yes, their testing....

It is for mine too.

So I took this opportunity to really study 'the curse' laid upon the woman.

Part A

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;

In pain you shall bring forth children;"

I found an amazing article on Christian US: What the Bible Says About Birth. I was surprised to find that PAINFUL CHILDBIRTH IS NOT THE CURSE! Maybe some of you have already known this. But I know many churches, or at least church leaders who teach that we were cursed with painful childbirth. No, no, no. The Lord who loves us was not cursing us with PAIN.

In fact the word that is commonly translated as 'pain' here is the same word that the Lord uses to Adam regarding his labors with the ground, commonly translated as "grief". He was warning us.....

Now, in this fallen world, we are bringing our children INTO IMPERFECTION. And that is indeed sorrow.

As a mother, I understand this. Each time I discover, THERE IS A BABY IN MY BELLY! I am worried. What if my baby is unhealthy? What if I am unhealthy? What kind of hardships will my beloved child have to live through? There is sorrow in our conception.

But that does not negate that children are still a blessing. And there are MANY more verses about THAT!

Psalm 113:9

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.Praise the LORD!

Psalm 127:3-5

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

John 16:21

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Found these at http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-children-25-inspirational-scripture-quotes/#ixzz1nADuSbhN


Part B

"Your desire shall be for your husband,,

And he shall rule over you.”

Now I firmly believe that the Bible is quite clear on a woman's submission to her husband.

1 Peter 3:1-3

"Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands,
that even if some do not obey the word, they,
without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,
when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.
Do not let your adornment be merely outward
—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—"

I know that this too is argued about in many churches and even TWISTED and DENIED by many church leaders. Let me tell you, if you think you know what is better for you than the Lord who created you, you are sorely mistaken. There is a WHOLE aspect of relationship with the Lord that you are missing if you do not walk in submission as the words says.

Matthew Henry had additional thoughts on the 'curse' and submission. While I know that I have not fully grasped this subject yet, I was intrigued and have been pondering and praying upon it.

He felt that our submission to our husbands was in fact the natural order, as it was meant to be. But now, with out sinful natures, we would STRUGGLE AGAINST IT, and it would feel burdensome to us, even to grief. How much of our grief.... is our struggle against the will of the Lord? I don't know... but I will consider next time my heart is hurting, for sure.

So, just as with childbirth, the issue of submission, was not a CURSE at all, as is commonly stated. And from now on I will not call it that ever again.

It was a warning from a loving Father, who knows our hearts and knows the path we will have to walk until we are back in His arms.

There is grief. There is sorrow.

But there is promise too.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

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