Happy to Serve
In a book entitled Liberated Through Submission by P. B. Wilson, I found a good description of Adam and Eve’s sin and a summary of their separate punishments. Mrs. Wilson writes on page 60:
Poor Adam, who had known no stress, now had to rule over Eve. He had to become responsible for a woman who proved by eating the fruit without discussion that she was, to say the least, a free-thinking, independent individual! Prior to the fall, God was the decision maker, and Adam and Eve had experienced no dissension in their relationship. Up until then, all had been pure and lovely.
Barred from their beautiful garden home, what culture shock they must have experienced! Leading was painstakingly difficult for Adam. Submitting was foreign to Eve. Neither of them wanted the responsibility God had placed on them. And I’m sure they both found it a bitter pill to submit to God’s firm decision.
She made the point that God gave them punishments that fit their personalities and their sins. The man’s position as LEADER and PROVIDER is hard work! The woman’s punishment of her husband “ruling over” her (Genesis 3:16) is hard work!
“Yet your desire will be for your husband” (Genesis 3:16). In Genesis 4:4 God said to Cain, “Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” These two verses use the same word “desire,” and they use it in the same sense. This desire is a great urge to overcome or overpower. The CURSE on the woman is this: She will have this strong desire for her husband’s position (i.e. to rule in the family), BUT, as Genesis 3:16 ends, “he will rule over you.” Its difficult.
But it’s also difficult for the man to properly fulfill his responsibilities as provider and ruler of the household.
We are all cursed, but we find liberation, freedom, when we work hard to fulfill our duties God’s way.
God bless,
Nathan
