October 27
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
17 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; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 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.” – Genesis 3:17-19
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE ON MAN
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
When Eve asked Adam to eat the fruit
Instead of taking authority and saying “no”
Adam disobeyed and dismissed God’s prohibition
Thereby, man received God’s wrath for doing so.
Adam could no longer enjoy freely the fruit from the ground
He now has to toil in pain to be able to reap the fruit
If he doesn’t do the work, he won’t be able to eat
Because he came from the dust, he also shall return to it.
________________________________________
Can you imagine if Adam took his role and authority seriously as the head of his wife and told her “No, we were forbidden to eat from that tree!”? There will be no such thing as “work.” Man didn’t have to toil so hard to put food on the table. We won’t be addicted to work and performance. We would just be contented with what God has already given and provided for us. We will be thankful and satisfied that He fulfills our needs. No wonder we humans can easily make “work” an idol (to glorify our own efforts). This idol of “work” results to our “busy-ness” which the enemy uses so we forget to be content and to thank the Lord and praise him for his providence.
As a result of the disobedience of Adam, man have a tendency to avoid their roles and responsibilities as head of family. They become absorbed with working to build up their reputation and neglect their authority and responsibility as the spiritual head of his family.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• How can man reverse that curse into a blessing?
• What is the consequence of man neglecting his authority over his family?