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Deeper Roots – Genesis 3:10-19

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January 19, 2022

A humbled and open heart is fertile soil for God’s seeds of wisdom. Establishing deeper roots requires analyzing God’s word to discover truths, values, and lessons for application to our lives. Periodically, a scripture or passage calls for further exploration, like Genesis 3:10-19.

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” 17 And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

Genesis 3:10-19 NLT

The book of Genesis is the first book in the Old Testament and sets the tone for the redemption story. Moses is commonly attributed as the author of Genesis. After the creation story, we read about the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve. Verses 10 through 19 pick up after the forbidden fruit have been eaten and God is asking man, “Where are you?’ Our selected passage picks up at Adam’s response.

In verse 10, Adam shares that he hid from God because he was naked. Now, Adam hadn’t been concerned with his nakedness before, but after eating the forbidden fruit his eyes were opened. God already knew where Adam was and what he had done. But God uses the question, to give Adam a chance to assess himself and admit his sin to God. Yet the first thing out of Adam’s mouth was blaming others. Even Eve blamed the serpent for deceiving her. Their blaming others shows the nature of their own hearts. They weren’t in a place where they could admit that they had been disobedient.

Then, the Lord begins to show that He is full of justice and mercy. The serpent, Eve, and Adam receive individual punishment for their part in eating from the forbidden tree. First, God curses the serpent to be permanently be positioned under the foot of humanity. Then God turns to Eve and holds her accountable for eating the forbidden fruit. Two specific things were imposed upon her: intensifying pain in bearing children and the dynamics of marriage would be shifted. She would desire to control him, but she would ultimately be in submission to him. Finally, Adam receives his punishment for listening to and obeying his wife instead of what God commanded. The relationship between man and earth was forever marred by his sin. Now, Adam would experience painful physical labor as he worked to bear fruit of the earth. The process of getting food was going to require effort. Now, Adam was going to have to seek after everything instead of God providing everything for them. And after all the toiling, they would return to the very dust they were formed from. Yet, after the punishment, God still covered Adam and Eve with clothes.

In disobedience, God is still good and merciful and just. So often we turn away and try to hide our sin from God. Yet, God already knows. And when we acknowledge and submit to God, there is a grace that comes along with it. A grace that still covers us although it is undeserved. A grace that continues to find ways to free us from our sin. A grace that walks alongside us and counsels us on being better every single day. I want to encourage you to lean into God’s grace today and every day.

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