serpent – Wounded Butterflies

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.”

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.

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.

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.