February 20, 2023
Reading: Genesis 3: 14-19
Focus: Genesis 3:15 – And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
Father, open our eyes to the plan you have for us. Guide us as we follow that plan. Thank You for Your blessings. Thank You for Jesus. I pray that You will be with the people in Turkey who have lost everything in the earthquake. Be with them and with the rescuers as they work to save people. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Adam and Eve had sinned. Death was the penalty. God asked why they were hiding. Adam bravely stood up and . . . pointed his finger at Eve. Eve, in turn, pointed at the serpent. That snake said not a word. God knew who had instigated the whole thing. Satan. His goal? To prove to God that his creation was a failure. To destroy anything and anyone that God loved. That is still Satan’s goal today. To keep us from God. He uses every tactic he can think of. Pride, pleasure, lust, wealth, power, arrogance and any want or need that humans may crave. It is not enough that he brought sin into the world. He wants to destroy God’s creation, one person at a time.
All you have to do is look at the news. It is appalling. Parents killing their children. Children killing the parents. People shooting, stabbing, killing others over an insult, implied or imagined. Corrupt politicians. Corruption in law enforcement. School shootings. Divorce. Adultery. Murder. Theft. Illegal drugs. Suicide. Every sin under the sun. Some things we’ve gotten so used to that they don’t even shock us anymore. Judicial systems that favor the criminal. Or convict the innocent, just because they might be guilty in spite of evidence to the contrary. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
But God has always had a plan. You can’t create a universe from absolutely nothing without a plan. For that matter, you can’t create anything without a plan. Great inventions begin with a thought, that grows into a dream, which grows into a plan, and finally, becomes reality even if the end-product was nowhere near the original idea. Many of the best inventions were mistakes.
Like Post-it notes. In 1968, the original plan was to create a super strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. But it came out as a very weak adhesive. It was thought to be absolutely useless. The inventor tried to find something to use it on. He called it ‘a solution without a problem.’ In 1973, they tried to find a use for it. But nothing seemed practical. Until 1974, a co-worker, a choir member who was having problems keeping his hymns marked tried the adhesive to keep his bookmarks in place, but the adhesive peeled off the note and stuck to the page. It was shelved again. It was improved and test marketed without success in 1978. Eventually, in 1980, with perseverance, the company perfected it and it is now a world-wide product with many, many uses.
I said all that, to say this, again. God has a plan. Just as He planned the universe, this planet and all of its inhabitants. He has a plan to take mankind and this earth back from Satan. To free men from sin forever. Since God is in the future as well as in the past and present. He knew what would happen to mankind if left without a means of salvation. There would be no hope for us. But God had a plan. A plan of salvation. Free to all who accepted and believed it. There are no works to perform, they won’t save you. There are no chants, no songs, no actions that will bring salvation to man. Man’s penalty for sin was death. Nothing more, nothing less. God had said it even before the serpent slithered up into that tree. If you eat of it, you will die. But God had a plan to save His creation.
It was not trial and error, like the Post-it Notes. It was not reinvented over and over again until it was right. The plan was in place before the beginning of time. It didn’t get shelved because it didn’t work the first time. It was perfect. God laid it clearly in Genesis 3:14-19. He told the serpent that he was cursed, that he would slither on his belly all the days of his life. Ever wonder why most women are afraid of snakes? I shiver to even to think about them. There would be animosity between man and snake. Now, here comes the best part.
The focus verse says it in the last phrase. “. . .he will crush your head and you will bruise his heel.” Look at the action here. Crush – to subdue completely; to reduce to particles by pounding or grinding. Those are two of the definitions. What did Jesus do when He died and rose again? He crushed Satan. Satan was defeated and no longer had the keys to death and hell. Jesus took them from him. Bruise – an injury involving the rupture of small blood vessels. Jesus was bruised for our iniquities. You see the difference? One was annihilated; the other, simply bruised.
Then God told Eve what her punishment would be. She would bear children but it would be in labor, strain and pain. Adam was told that to gather food, it would be done with demanding work. Thorns and thistles would grow and hamper his working to feed his family. Those punishments are still with us today. But there is joy in a birth and satisfaction in being able to provide for your family.
Eve was deceived into thinking that to “be like God” was something that she wanted and needed. Her actions, while giving her the knowledge of good and evil, did not give her what she thought she wanted. When we try take control of our lives and plan what we are going to do, where we are going to college and what degree we want, we often never think to include God in our plans. Our plans might come together, and we are successful, but sometimes they just fall apart. We are arrogant enough to think that we don’t need God to help us achieve our goals. I’m here to tell you that we need God to be with us in everything we do or plan to do. As Christians, we need to include God even in the smallest parts in our lives. We need to ask for guidance. We need to ask for confirmation to know that we are on the right path. Just as I did before beginning this blog.
I asked God for a sign to show me without a doubt that this blog is the direction He wants me to go. I prayed off and on all day Saturday and on the way to church Sunday morning. I want you to know now, that God didn’t just answer my prayer, He answered it three times! In Sunday School, the lesson was on being a Christian in our leisure time. I am retired now and I have LOTS of leisure time. Then the worship service. One song was Brandon Lakes’ “Living Sacrifice” and another was “Available” by Elevation. The one phrase that echoes over and over in my mind is “Here I am”. Finally, the sermon. The sermon nailed it. My pastor spoke of using our talents for God. Can I tell you? I still have goose bumps!
When I went to college, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I was gonna do it. But after one semester, that idea changed and changed again at least one or two more times. My degree is in Speech, English, Creative Writing and Drama with a minor in Education. Since graduation, I have not taught a single day as a schoolteacher, but I have taught Sunday School and Children’s Church. It wasn’t until 45 years later that I am, finally, actually using what I had learned in school. These blogs are the result. God had a plan for me. He even showed it to me when I was 16 (See Before the Beginning). I didn’t see it then, but now, as I look back, I realize that all those years since then have prepared me for this.
God had a plan from the beginning. He still has a plan; a plan for each of us. But He created us with the ability to choose. His plan is to redeem each and every one of us, but we have to accept that redemption. We have to repent and accept and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that His death on the cross paid the debt for our sin. Like the thieves on the cross, next to Jesus. One accepted the plan and went to Paradise with Jesus, but the other refused.
Which one are you?
Father, You are the Creator of all things. When I think of the intricacies of this world and the universe it is in, I am in awe of you. Thank You for the plan you have for my life. Thank You that before time began You had a plan for my salvation through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Food for Thought
- Why do you think God asked them what they had done?
- Why do you think Adam blamed Eve and why did Eve blame the serpent?
- What do you believe happened to creation when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Was it genetic or spiritual? Why?
- Do you believe that God has a specific plan for your life? Why or Why not?
- Have you ever asked God to show you, very clearly, the direction you should take with a particular choice in your life? What happened?
