“Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: 'Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field” (Gen 3:17-18).
First, we shall have sorrow all the days of our life, and that won't change. No amount of grace or faith relieves us FROM experiencing misery, but grace will conquer the misery that we endure.
I heard the story, in passing, of a woman, not bad looking, who'd hoped and expected to marry and have children. Yet, “life passed her by”, and here she is old and alone with no one to help but God. She has HEARTBREAK and misery, lonely nights. She must see friends and family with children and loving marriages, while she thinks about the “ones that got away” and mourns her frustration.
This is common to us all. There is no one among us that achieves every dream and lives in peace without the torment of sin. The carnal nature is here so long as I live, so sin, temptation, frustration, failure, and pain will be our lot in life. We are forgiven, but the sin has brought grief and pain - (Gen 3:14-17) “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life”.
Our crime is that we wanted to be as gods, choosing between good and evil as we see fit. And, now, by rebellion, we know evil, and the pain thereof (Gen 3:4-10).
Secondly, the remedy isn't a pie in the sky religion, but a comfort that works on earth. We believe God and use the miseries of today to draw near to the One Hope that we have, Jesus and Him crucified, the promised help of God - “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:7-9).
God's word is promising us Himself, His Spirit, and His heaven. We are to receive the blessings of grace, rather than deal with our misery by human efforts and turning our backs on Christ.
If we believe, then we shall conquer and endure. The misery will be broken and God's peace will rule. The good works of faith and love will produce the joy and life that's promised - (Gen 3:20-21) “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them”.
The key to conquering the sin and misery of the curse is to RECEIVE continually, and look immediately to the BLESSINGS of God.
Christ endured the curse, so even though we hurt because we are cursed with sin and death, He has earned the blessings that like ointment or medicine relieve us . It is not that God desirous us restless and cast down; it is that He has BARRED the way of healing by human strength and found foolish man's wisdom. He will save by grace and mercy in Christ-crucified, or you won't have peace with God - (Gen 3:22-24) “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”.
God's promise is, “in sorrow you shall eat of it”, and, “you shall eat the herb of the field”, so He declares that in spite of grief, we shall prosper (Gen 3:17-18). In spite of deadness in the flesh, we'll live in the Spirit (Gal 5:16; 1 Sam 30:6-8). Instead of thorns destroying hope in Christ, they'll bring us to God's will and make us obedient, and we'll eat the FRUIT of His way.
These thorns, thirdly, are good. Without them, we'd go into Moab and not know to return (Ruth 1:1-7). We get proud, and without a messenger of Satan, the thorn in the flesh to trouble us, we'd forget God and preach Christ to elevate ourselves - “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to beat me, lest I should be exalted above measure... And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:7,9).
Without the pain, we couldn't feel that we were wrong, and we wouldn't care. Without the consequences, we wouldn't know to trust Christ in our sin.
Pain teaches us to TRUST Christ, and then He relieves us as promised.
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