Tag: Eve

Pursuit of Bad Wisdom

On By JCIn Miscellaneous, Wounded Butterflies BlogLeave a comment

Ever since humans were created, we desire to know things. We want wisdom. Eve wanted wisdom, so she took a bite of the fruit. Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

Proverbs 8:22 describes who Wisdom is, where she spends her time and how she was created.  “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.30Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”

Wisdom was there as God created the earth, and before He created humanity, He created her. In God’s word, we are told to pursue Wisdom at all costs and cherish her. Proverbs 4:7 says. “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” And in Proverbs 8:10, “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”

What is wisdom as God’s word defines it? Proverbs 9:10 explains wisdom and understanding as, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Fear of the Lord is described in Proverbs 8:13, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I (Wisdom) hate pride and arrogance,  evil behavior and perverse speech.”

If God’s word says to pursue wisdom at all costs, than why did Eve’s pursuit of wisdom turn out so poorly? Two reasons, the first is what humans think will give wisdom does not always align with God’s word. The second reason is that Eve was pursuing something God told her not to. There are times in life when what we are pursuing is not for us – whether it is intended for someone else or God has told us in His word it is not good for us.

As we choose to invest time, treasure and talent into the pursuit of what we think is wisdom or good for us, we need to pray to God and first seek His Will. All that we have is His and we need to ensure that we are following His purpose and intended use for those gifts.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for the gifts You give us – time, treasure and talent. Thank You for the gift of wisdom, Lord help us to know what is the good and true wisdom You would have us pursue. Help us to reject what the enemy may tell us is good for us or wisdom-giving. Give us the wisdom and discernment we need to follow Your path for our lives. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

The Real Story of Eve – Where is Eden Today?

On By JCIn Miscellaneous, Wounded Butterflies BlogLeave a comment

Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam ate the fruit, he blamed Eve and God. Eve then blamed the serpent. In spite of these attempts to place blame on others, God assigns the consequences of sin to each of them.

He then performs the first animal sacrifice and sheds blood to cover the sins of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:21, we read “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”

So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Credit: JC

So where are the cherubim today and the flashing sword? Where is the garden of Eden? The Scriptures tell us where it was in Genesis 2:10 – 14. “A river went  out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure;  bdellium  and onyx  are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris,  which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” With this information, you would think someone would have located the Garden of Eden by now.

But there is one thing to keep in mind, the flood that covered the entire earth. Genesis 7:18 – 24 reads, “The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet.  Every creature perished — those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm  on the earth, as well as all mankind. Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils  — everything on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.  And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.”

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank you that you have promised to never again flood the earth. Thank you that you love us, even as the sinners we are. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

The Real Story of Eve – Bloodshed

On By JCIn Miscellaneous, Wounded Butterflies BlogLeave a comment

Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam blamed both Eve and God for him eating the fruit, Eve then blamed the serpent. In Genesis 3:14 – 15 , we read “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. 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.”

Credit: JC

In these verses, God details the consequences for the sins committed. The serpent will crawl on its belly and be hated by Eve’s offspring. The offspring will strike the devil’s head and he will strike the heels of the offspring. It is important to note that there is a big difference between an injury to your heel which can hurt and cause you to limp, versus an injury to the head which can kill you.

Eve’s ‘offspring’ is humanity, the human race. When Jesus walked the earth, He was fully human and fully God. Through His death on the cross as a human, Jesus shed His blood. The death of Jesus on the cross served to end the reign of the devil, leaving every human with a choice. We can choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and shed His blood for our sins or we can deny Him. If we deny Jesus, then we live under the reign and power of the devil, a puppet of his pain and suffering.

But if we choose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the power that the devil has over you is gone. The verse says that the devil will strike the heels of humanity, that is true even after you believe in Jesus. The devil can still nip at your heels and try to hurt you, but the only ability that the devil has to hurt you is the power you give him. The blood of Jesus protects all those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God. In this life, there will be hurt and pain, but as believers in Jesus, we know that this is temporary, “. . .therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 – 18

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, Thank you for the blood shed by Jesus, Your Son. Thank you that the power of the devil is broken, all we need to do is believe in You. Father, even though  we are pressed on every side, we are not crushed; we may be confused about what is happening in this world, but we are not in despair; we may be persecuted, but we are never abandoned by You; we may be struck down, but we will never be destroyed because we belong to You, our Lord, our Savior, Our Jesus. It is in His precious name we pray, amen. 

The Real Story of Eve – Blame

On By JCIn Miscellaneous, Wounded Butterflies BlogLeave a comment

Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they heard God walking in the garden. We read in Genesis 3:8, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

 “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?”

The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

Hold on there a minute Adam. Are you saying that you had no choice but to take the fruit from Eve, and then you also had no choice but to eat it? As soon as Eve’s teeth pierced the fruit, she became a sinner. Maybe Eve threatened to leave Adam if he did not take the fruit. Maybe she told Adam she would not have relations with him unless he ate the fruit. Maybe she lied and tricked Adam. Or perhaps it was not Eve’s lies or threats, maybe Adam wanted the knowledge that his wife had gained by eating the fruit, not realizing it would be his death. Maybe Adam was driven by greed.

Every human’s ability to hurt one another arrived in that moment. Every lie ever told, every hurt ever inflicted was birthed right there in that beautiful garden.

Credit: JC

Adam wanted to blame Eve and God for what he had done. How often do we blame others for the actions we take or the words we say? “The man replied, ‘It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ ” Adam was blaming God because He gave Eve to Adam so that he would not be alone in this world. How often do we blame God for consequences in our lives that we cause?

As we continue to read in verse 13, we see the blaming was not over quite yet. “Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” “

After Eve watched her husband place blame on her and God, it was her turn to blame. She chose to point the finger at the serpent, the devil, the enemy of all humanity. How often do we blame the enemy for the actions we take or the words we say? ‘The devil made me do it’ is a phrase you may have heard. The fact is that we each will own our actions before God. We will each be held accountable for every word we say, (Matthew 12:36 & 37). We are the ones who will have to answer the same question God posed to Eve, “What have you done?” Not our spouse, not our friends and not the enemy, there is no one left to blame as we stand before God.

Let’s pray.

Lord, please help us to speak words of light and love. Help us to take actions that bring You glory. Help us to be peacemakers and honest and kind to others. Help us to recognize the enemy and reject his lies. Help us to not blame others or You for the sins we commit, instead please give us repentant hearts. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

The Real Story of Eve – Walking With God

On By JCIn Miscellaneous, Wounded Butterflies BlogLeave a comment

Last week, we began to unfold the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. This week, we are continuing with Genesis 3:7. This verse is right after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit., “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.”

Credit: JC

How can it be that Adam and Eve walked with the Lord? In Exodus 33:20, God says to Moses, “But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.”  We know that God only speaks truth. We know that the Scriptures say He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, so how did they walk with Him and live? Did they just not look at God while they walked with Him, maybe. But I think a closer answer is who and what Adam and Eve were when God walked with them.

During their time in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were without sin. God created them and certainly did not place sin or evil hearts in them. So at that time, Adam and Eve were sinless and they were able to be in God’s presence, they were able to walk with Him and look Him in the face. Then they committed sin and had to be removed from God’s presence, sin cannot be in the presence of a perfect God. Exodus 33:20 happened well after Adam and Eve had sinned and were banished from the garden. Their sin separated them from God. This is exactly why God sent Jesus, so we could look upon His face again, walk with Him again and trust in His sacrifice on the cross resulting in us living forever with God, just as He created us to do.

Let’s pray.

Lord, please forgive us when we sin. Please give us hearts that are broken when we break yours with the things we do. My our broken hearts drive us to repent, to turn from sin and toward your loving embrace that is always right there waiting for us. Thank you for Jesus, it is in His precious name we pray, amen.