I am again in the passage from Genesis known as “The Fall”. This is the story of the serpent deceiving the woman to eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and feeding Adam. Where there is a lot to the story, I would focus this morning on the discipline God passes to each of those involved.
“14The Lord God said to the serpent,…
‘15I 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.’”
“16To 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.”
“17And 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;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.’”
— Genesis 3:14a & 15-18 (ESV)
Notice here that all involved in “The Fall” were counted as responsible and were disciplined by God. First, the serpent who started it all was dealt with most harshly. The serpent was separated from man who there was a relationship before. We don’t know the full extent of the relationship, yet there was one as there was with all that were created by God. The positive relationship was removed and the serpent would be forever believed to be evil.
Next there was the woman. She was responsible for being deceived. She made the decision to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She chose to sin and her discipline was to be more conscious of childbirth and continue to be at odds with her husband who would now be counted as the ruler of the household.
And then there is Adam. When reading the story, it appears as though he might be in the clear as he may not have know where the fruit came from. Except, as noted quickly at the end of verse 6, he was with her at the time. Adam was disciplined to work the ground for his food as opposed to having things handed to him by God. He would now be subject to hard labor and know that it was labor whereas before, it was just work done to manage the garden.
Regardless of the scenario, there is discipline to be had by all. Whether the starter of it (the serpent) the receiver (the woman) or the apparent bystander (Adam). God will discipline all. There are consequences to any and everything that goes on. What I have to remember is that where there are consequences, they are there for me learn and grow in the LORD.
What scenarios have you been in where you are one of the three identified? Are you thinking that somehow you are immune from discipline? What if you were to take on that the LORD will discipline all, and that discipline is for our good?
Trevor's Thoughts 