You Have Listened - Genesis 3:17-19

Genesis 3:17-19 ESV 

And to Adam he said, 

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

Adam listened to his wife rather than God. He did what she said instead of what God said. The ground he was to work is cursed, which is the work of disobedience. Pain and sweat will now be added to his effort, just as childbirth became painful for Eve. Disobedience brings a compromised life, where obeying God leads to life in it's fullness and best. 

Instead of blessings of obedient cultivation, the ground will sprout thorns and thistles. Adam will eat what he grows, rather than the fruit of the garden. The fruit of the Spirit is withdrawn. 

Adam, and all of us, will now experience the pain of living that comes with his choice of disobedience. No longer will the bread of heaven feed and comfort man. His bread is now confined to his own efforts. 

Their choice was really between heaven and earth. They did not see that until it was too late, when their eyes were opened. Trusting God rather than self has always been the issue and question posed to man.