Women of Faith - Eve.

Eve - The Girl Who Wants It All.

So shoot me, I couldn't stay away from writing too long. I ran upstairs almost seconds after hitting "post" and grabbed my Bible and my notes from camp, ready to start with at least one of 2 Women of Faith posts today. And of course, when you start, you have to start at the beginning. Thus, I bring you Eve.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27.

In the beginning, as we know, God created the heavens and the earth. Pretty soon he realized that earth needed something, after all the animals and waters and plants and whatnot were made. So, like Genesis 1:27 says, he created man. Adam was supposed to be in charge of the whole joint - naming the animals and keeping watch over them, work the garden, and to just watch over Eden. Pretty soon though, God realized that it wasn't good for him to be alone - he needed a helper, and none of the animals he had created were a good fit. So, as Genesis 2:21 says, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took a rib from Adam's side, and with it formed a helper for him - a woman. Adam said in Genesis 2:23 that she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones, and would be called a woman for she was taken out of man.
Life after this seemed pretty good. Eve had it made - a perfect husband for her (technically, as we discussed in church one Sunday, one of the few "matches made in heaven" - literally!), no shame at all because they walked the garden naked - why would they need clothes? - and the perfect place to live, in the middle of a gorgeous garden, where she and Adam took walks with God all the time. She had it all. The only restriction that they had was that they weren't allowed to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, located in the middle of the garden. No big though, right?
Then, along comes this slimy fella. The serpent, we learn in Genesis 3:1, was more crafty than any of the other animals that God had made. He starts pestering Eve with questions, asking, "Did God really tell you that you can't eat from that tree?" He told her that if she ate from it, she would be like God, knowing good and evil, and not die like God had said.
Eve could have stopped right there and said, listen. I have a perfect life. I don't need to be like God, because noone can be like him. I have everything I want. But she didn't. Instead, she snuck on over to the tree and looked at the fruit, seeing that it looked good. She took some, and ate it, and instead of sticking to her own self, gave some to Adam and he ate it too. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they realized - hello! - that they were buck naked, and so they started covering themselves with fig leaves.
Soon, God starts walking around in the garden. He's happy, because he made it and it's amazing, and everything is perfect. He starts looking around for Adam, and for some reason can't find him. So he calls to him, "Where are you?"
Oh snap.
Adam answers, "I heard you, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I ran and hid."
God's like, "...what?"
Here comes the boom.
"How did you know you were naked?" God says, "Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?" I imagine at this point Adam and Eve look at each other and we would hear an audible "gulp" coming from both of them. Adam's response to God's question? She made me do it. So God turns to Eve. "What is this you have done?" He asks. Eve's response? The snake made me do it. So, God turns to the snake, and curses him with crawling on his belly and having Eve's children forever smash him in the face and hate him - giving us today's gross snakes and reptiles.
He turns to Eve, and lovingly gives us women pains in childbirth and having our husbands have the power over us. Thanks, dude.
And lastly, he turns to Adam, saying how Adam and his offspring will forever have to work for what they want, and then condemns him to the saying, "dust to dust" meaning he's going to die, instead of having a great life with God in the garden. Then God made garmets of skin for Adam and Eve, casting them out of the Garden of Eden forever to work the fields.
Isn't that crazy? Eve had EVERYTHING! The perfect guy, body, and life, but she wanted more, and by eating from the tree, she got more than she had EVER bargained for.
Do you know a real-life Eve? She's always trying new things like smoking or drinking because it may make her seem "cooler" - and she gets everyone else to try it too, just like Eve had Adam eat the fruit too. Eve's decision had major consequences.
Whether we want to or not, sometimes we may do the wrong thing to be "happy" or "popular." We need to look at Eve's story to realize that we should be content with what we have! Everything that we do have is from God, and he can easily take it away or give us more - all depending on our actions. Satan knows exactly the right ways to tempt us, but face it - when it comes to doing the wrong thing, we have only ourselves to blame.
Here's your NR challenge for this post - I challenge you to curb your inner Eve-complex. We're always wanting more and never satisfied with what we have, but I ask you to try to beat this mindset. Realize that what you have is from God and it's absolutely perfect. Don't ask for more, because Satan knows how to reach you in the places you're weakest, and the consequences could be dire.
Are you in?

-Kimber.