Her name means "mother of all who have life" or "life-giving" and how appropriate. She knew God intimately, was on a first name basis and saw him face to face. Her story is well known; it involves a snake, an apple, and deception.
The blame is often placed on her, but is she fully to blame? God curses and blesses both Adam and Eve. They are both cast out of Paradise. True, Eve took the fruit first but Adam willingly accepted the fruit from his wife. In the eyes of God it makes sense that are both implicated and both responsible. For Adam and Eve, being husband and wife, are one flesh in the eyes of God.
Eve was the first woman on Earth, and the first woman in this study.
My favorite quote from her story: "Pressed hard by desire, she took the fruit and then shared it with her husband. Suddenly darkness spread across Eden. It came, not from the outside but from within, filling the man and the woman with shadows, cravings, and misery. Order gave way to disorder, harmony to discord, trust to fear."
Sin begins inside us. True outside circumstances can be crummy and hard pressed but it is our individual response that breeds sin. Two people in the same circumstance can respond in two different manners, one faithfully and one filled with sin. Eve began life in Paradise and decided that she wanted more, introducing sin into the world. How often do we want more, knowing that we have plenty already? This is part of being human.
And while Eve was punished with pains in childbearing, there is a blessing at the end of that process and pain as well. I am not yet a mother but cannot wait for the day that I am. Eve was the first mother, is the mother to all. She led the way for the rest of us women. She gave birth to children with no modern technologies or conveniences and she did so knowing that God was the giver of life. It was through Him that she was able to experience the joys and pangs of childbearing. We are united with Eve in this same manner, after the pain is gone we are filled with joy of the life we have brought into this world.
We can clearly see God's love and grace through Eve's story as well. Even though they have betrayed Him by doing the one thing He asked them not to do, he still forgives them. Through His judgement His grace is also shown. Death has now become inevitable; but someday mankind will crush the head of the serpent who began mans downfall. So while there is negative there is also positive. We will die; but we will live in Him always and forever.
Things I wil try to take from Eve's story:
I was made in God's image. I do not always remember this. I often do not feel the worth that I know God has bestowed on me. Like Eve I often try to take things into my own hands. I do not always want to wait and seek for what it is God wants for me in my life. While I know that I need to take an active role in my life and not just sit back and wait and wait for God to work in my life, I also know that I need to be more open to seeing God working in my life. It is hard to listen and see with all that goes on.
Right now it is difficult for me to see God in my life when I have been looking for a job for over a year and found nothing. I am starting to doubt myself and who I am. I am starting to feel inadequate as a person in society and as a wife being a productive part of the household. It is really starting to get me down. I know that God has a plan for me and I need to wait for the job He has set aside from me but it is getting frustrating looking and having nothing come back in return.
Eve is the mother of all mankind. She betrayed herself and let God down. Yet, even through His judgement of her God assured her that one day her offspring would reverse what she had done. Through her pain in child bearing she was still able to praise God and bestow upon Him the glory that her child was. This week as I reflect on Eve I hope to be more joyous in what I have been given, I pray to try and see myself the way that God does. It will not be easy, and it will take time.
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