October 28
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 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—” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 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. – Genesis 3:20-24
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 THE NAMING OF EVE & AFTERMATH OF THE FALL
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
After our first parents fell into sin, Adam called his wife Eve
Despite their disobedience, God still covered them with grace
Rather than destroying them, he made garments to cover them
But after believing the lies of the serpent, things have changed.
Adam named his wife Eve as it means “mother of the living”
He hoped that someday God will restore their former status before sinning
The fear of not knowing when they will see God again was shattering
What used to be freedom and life now seems bondage and death.
________________________________________
The name Eve is literally the word “living” in Hebrew, haw’wāh. Do you ever wonder how Adam came up with that name when their disobedience caused them death (a separation from God and his paradise). Even though we assume that Eve had her name when she was made from Adam’s ribs, it was only after the fall that she was given her name Eve. Female and helper were the names alluding to her before the fall.
According to some commentaries, the naming of Eve is a declaration of faith of Adam. That after their disobedience, he hoped that one day, they can have life restored again. In giving her this name, she is looking at future generations of humans to come. It sounds like a prophetic statement that foresees that the virgin birth will restore man’s status with God as he provides the solution for the appeasement of his wrath over their sin.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• How do you think Adam and Eve feel when verse 24 was happening?
Tag Archives: ILMA ARTS STUDIO
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE ON MAN
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?
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE ON THE WOMAN
October 26
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.” – Genesis 3:16
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE ON THE WOMAN
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
When Eve caved in to the temptation of the serpent
She had no idea what she had done that caused a ripple effect
Because of her disobedience and her lust for knowledge
God gave her the curse that was passed on to all women.
All women will suffer labor pains when they give birth to their child
Thus, all of those mothers-to-be will go through that same birth pains
Women will also have this natural yearning to go against her husband
But it will be futile because God directed men to be the head of their wives.
________________________________________
To all women, can you imagine what it would have been like if Eve didn’t give in to the temptation of the serpent? Birthing a child would probably be painless and we will have no tendencies to control our husbands. It was the woman that the serpent targeted to victimize first. Imagine if the serpent went straight to the man? It would have been different.
In our world, it is usually the weaker ones that become the aim of the enemy to prey on.
It was the vulnerable that the serpent slithers his way into enticing them to sin. So many weaker beings are used by the enemy so that his tactics will be less obvious. The longer he hides it from his actual target, the more victims will he catch.
It took me awhile to understand why a lot of women including myself have this tendency to oppose our husband and take control of some things in our marriages. I didn’t understand why my mother dominated my father often. Until I read these verses on the curse of women, it finally dawned on me that it was in women’s nature to do so.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• How can we as women believers go against this nature to control our husbands?
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE TO THE SERPENT
October 25
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” – Genesis 3:14-15
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 THE CURSE TO THE SERPENT
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
When the serpent manipulated Eve to disobey God
He had to be punished for the evil he had done
As a result of that sly move to corrupt their minds and hearts
He received the curse of God that he will crawl on the ground.
He will always struggle to win because he will be on his belly
His defeat is what is to be expected because of his lowly tactics
Satan will be defeated by the promised Son of the woman
His head shall be crushed by the power of God himself.
________________________________________
The serpent must have been a beautiful creature before he tempted Adam and Eve because the curse made him crawl on his belly amongst the dust all his life. He must have been above the ground before the fall of man. This is probably why the devil’s way of tempting is in a slithering and sneaky way because he wants to prey on his victim unannounced. He manipulates his way into a man’s mind and heart so cunningly that if you don’t really know and fear God, you will fall into it, but his head will be crushed too. God cursed him with defeat all his time on earth. He will always lose in the end.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why is it important to know how the serpent works as a believer?
GENESIS 3 SHAME IS THE AFTERMATH OF SIN
October 24
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” – Genesis 3:8-13
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 SHAME IS THE AFTERMATH OF SIN
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s prohibition of the tree
They quickly knew they were naked and felt shame by what they did
Their once pure minds became corrupted with selfish ambition
They began to crave for more than what was already given.
When we open our hearts and minds to give in to cravings
We begin to experience guilt and shame creeping in
We hide and make sure no one knows what we did
Then we protect ourselves from anyone who exposes it.
________________________________________
Shame is prevalent in our world. In this following account, we see the birth of shame in mankind. Oftentimes we do not easily recognize our sins because it is in our nature. When our first parents caved in to the serpent’s temptation, we inherited such tendencies to sin. We are inherently bent towards our desires and pleasures which lead us to sin. There is a sure way to recognize sin. Shame is the aftermath of sin. Since God created us in his image, we also can be pure and holy like him, but sin corrupted that holiness. Shame makes us lose our moral compass and leads us further away from being loyal to God. Thus, we ought to expose shame so we can confess the sin and repent and renew our hearts.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• How can we get rid of shame in our lives as we serve the Lord our God?
GENESIS 3 THE BIRTH OF SIN
October 23
________________________________________
GENESIS 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. – Genesis 3:1-7
________________________________________
GENESIS 3 THE BIRTH OF SIN
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
God created the man and woman without blemish, just like him
But the appearance of a sly serpent came into the Garden of Eden
His cunning ways brought forth a desire in the woman to be tempted
She knew that they can consume fruits from all trees except the forbidden tree.
The manipulative tactics of the serpent using appetizing visual stimulation
Worked its way into the heart of the woman who began to eat what’s forbidden
The lure to have knowledge of what God has worked its way into her heart
Thus, the birth of sin came about in this paradise and shame got them.
________________________________________
In these verses, we witness the cunning ways of Satan. Because he was kicked out of heaven, he had to do everything in his power to get as much people to feel the shame that was the aftermath of his self-love and pride. Sin is born when we entertain a desire to have more than what we already were given.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• How did James 1:14-15 explain the birth of sin and its consequences to our lives?
GENESIS 2 A HELPER MADE FOR MAN
October 22
________________________________________
GENESIS 2
18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. – Genesis 2:18-25
________________________________________
GENESIS 2 A HELPER MADE FOR MAN
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
After creating Adam out of the dust, he made him rule all creatures
But the Lord God saw that Adam needed someone who could help him
He let Adam fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping,
God took a rib from Adam and made a similar being for helping him.
When Adam woke, he was overjoyed with much delight to see Eve
A helper finally fit to be with him to tend the Garden of Eden
So, the Lord God put them together in a place where they can be one
They will no longer be separated and become one flesh till the end of time.
________________________________________
When God made Eve out of the rib of Adam, his desire was to bring him a helper fit for him. God instituted marriage when he declared for them to become one flesh and that there will be no one to break that unity between them. This is why a man will leave his parents to become one with his wife.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why is it not good if a husband clings to his parents and not to his wife?
GENESIS 2 GOD’S PROVISION & PROHIBITION
October 21
________________________________________
GENESIS 2
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:10-17
________________________________________
GENESIS 2 GOD’S PROVISION & PROHIBITION
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
There were four rivers flowing in the Garden of Eden
They were Pishon where it flowed in Havilah
It had gold in this river including bdellium and onyx
There was also the river that flowed around Cush named Gihon
While the third river Tigris flowed around east of Assyria
The fourth river is called Euphrates which provided waters to the garden.
In the Garden of Eden, God decided to place the man on it
Since he had given all the provisions for him to flourish
The Lord God gave Adam stewardship of the whole garden
He was provided everything he needed but was also given prohibition
Adam can eat from the fruits of every other three around him
Except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he will die.
________________________________________
In the following verses, we get a glimpse of how beautiful the Garden of Eden was and how he provided these four rivers where the vegetation can be nourished and where Adam can tend over the provision. Since God is a God of Order, he gave Adam the responsibility to care for this garden and can enjoy every fruit of the tree except one tree. We see also a God of boundaries in these passages.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why do you think God prohibited Adam to eat from the tree of good and evil?
GENESIS 2 THE MAKING OF MAN AND HIS HABITATION
October 20
________________________________________
GENESIS 2
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. – Genesis 2:4-9
________________________________________
GENESIS 2 THE MAKING OF MAN AND HIS HABITATION
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
In the days that the Lord God made all things from day one to day six
He had a plan in mind and a sequence of doing each of these things
But when the making of man came about, we see a slight difference
The creation of man was a sum total of God’s word and his own breath.
God also prepared for the man’s life by creating his environment
He planted a garden in the east where he placed the man he had made
And from the ground, God also sprung up every tree that is beautiful
He placed the tree of life and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
________________________________________
In the Genesis account of creation, we distinctly have a glimpse of how God made almost everything in preparation for the man. He created man in the last day. If you look at the sequence of the details of God’s creation, just like in a drama that you watch on television, everything was leading up to the drum roll moment: the making of the man. He made man in the last day after everything else was prepared for him. He was prepared to be the holy bride for his own Son Jesus Christ. He made man in his image so that we can all choose be holy and pure for the head and husband of the church, who is Christ his son.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why do you think God breath his own breath on man and not on other creatures?
GENESIS 2 THE SEVENTH DAY MADE HOLY
October 19
________________________________________
GENESIS 2
Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. – Genesis 2:1-3
________________________________________
GENESIS 2 THE SEVENTH DAY MADE HOLY
A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA
The Lord God made the whole creation in six days
He invented the pattern of separating one thing from another
Just as the Lord Almighty separated the light from the dark
He also placed a sky between the heaven and the earth
He created a separate light for the day and one also for the night
Just as he made distinctions from each creature of each kind.
God was setting a pattern of time for us to follow
We are to work six days and keep the seventh day holy
The order that God initiated is purposeful and intentional
He made the whole creation for his grandiose plan of redemption
Let us then keep following the pattern of having a rest from work
Let this day of rest be a holy day to give all the praise to our Creator.
________________________________________
When we closely look at how God made every part of creation with much intentionality, we will begin to see the patterns that he is setting for us to follow. From dark and void and lifeless heaven and earth, he commanded light in existence, which began the existence of time from the distinction between the two. He called the light day and the darkness night. Thus, time came into being. It was God’s marker to let us see that he is a God of order and that he has everything under his control. The patterns of boundaries from day one to day 6 were so clearly illustrated in this account of creation. The seventh day, which he made holy is a day of rest and is separated from the six days of work. He wants us to keep it holy so that we won’t fall into sin. He wants to be connected to us on that day of rest so we won’t forget these patterns of separations and boundaries.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why do you think God made the 7th day holy?