The Help Of The Lord - Genesis 4:1

Genesis 4:1 ESV 

​Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

In the sixth day of creation man and woman were created with the charge of being fruitful and multiplying to fill the earth, to subdue it. Adam and Eve were not created on that day. They were given the command to work the ground. They were not created male and female like the other men and living creatures in the world. Adam was formed alone. Eve was formed from Adam and they became one. Other men and women were two. 

Thrown out of the garden, they were given the garments of humanity, facing death like every other creature in animal skins. 

Now Eve would know Adam in a different way and from that union children would be born. The Israelites would descend from these two and so would come the Savior of the world, the Son of Man. 

All this would be the will God. It is with the help of the Lord we can at last stand in His presence. 

Let Us Wipe Them Out - Psalms 83:1-4

Psalms 83:1-4 ESV 

O God, Do Not Keep Silence

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.​ O God, do not keep silence;

do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

For behold, your enemies make an uproar;

those who hate you have raised their heads.

They lay crafty plans against your people;

they consult together against your treasured ones.

They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

An ancient hatred grows stronger with each passing day. The snake in the Garden continues to strike God's people with the sting of death. Cain still seeks the death of Abel. 

"They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

Who are these people? The Psalm identifies them. Like Cain, they seek to slay their brothers. As it was with the children of Adam, so it is with the children of Abraham. 

The day will come and they will be put to shame. They will then know. 

 

At The Boundary - Job 26:10

Job 26:10 ESV 

He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters

at the boundary between light and darkness.

The earth found its form by the finger of God. There at the murky waters of man light meets the darkness and the darkness gives way to that light. We are the boundary in view. It is inside our hearts that the light of the world has risen. It meets the receding darkness of a mind and heart under transformation. The law written by the finger of God was another boundary to discern between light and darkness, to bring understanding to the hearts of man and to make way for the light. 

Reach Out His Hand - Genesis 3:22-24

Genesis 3:22-24 ESV 

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Choosing and taking the fruit of the tree of life was equally within reach. If Adam and Eve's attention had not been drawn to forbidden tree, the garden story might have ended differently. But God knows what lies in the heart of man. God knew that another tree of life would be necessary. The Son of Man was already anointed as the tree of life that has appeared in our wilderness. The timeless fruit is now available for the picking. The kingdom of heaven has drawn near. 

Just reach out...

And Clothed Them - Genesis 3:20-21

Genesis 3:20-21 ESV 

The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Eve means life giver. It is through her body that the living would come. It is through Christ's body that the living would finally arrive. 

Adam and Eve were clothed in garments of skin. This points to the sacrifices to come that would help to cover their sins. The skins did cover their nakedness in addition to speaking to what God was doing. 

Later, He would clothe them in garments of righteousness, the righteousness that comes only from God. 

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. 

He Shall Rule - Genesis 3:16

Genesis 3:16 ESV 

To the woman he said, 

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you.”

The woman's punishment involves a more painful existence in bearing children and in the subjugation to her husband. She will be the mother of all living, yet the child bearing pains will be played out on a personal level and in the birth pains of the new creation to come. 

She loses something in her relationship with Adam. God seems to redirect her access to Himself to Adam instead. Adam becomes her lord. She has lost her status of co-ruler with Adam and is now ruled by him.