How well do we think we know Eve? People have preached about her sin for millennia, but have they really tried to understand her?
Eve, the Mother of all nations. Eve may have been the mother of all women, however, she was also different from every other woman in many ways. Eve had no childhood. She was created. This means she had no recollection of childhood things, such as, playing with lambs and puppies as a child, or learning to speak, or running to her parents after falling over, or having rides on her father's shoulders, helping Mum or Dad cook, being taught life, or going through the changes a woman does as she grows. She has no memories of riding the dog or sheep as a little girl or holding Daddy’s big strong hands when they went for a walk. Being a child had no part in her memories. She missed it all. Yet, how we were reared has a major impact on the rest of us, and on how our adult life turns out. What Eve did have though was something many women and men wished they could have. You see, Eve would not have heard a swear word or cursing, experienced anger, or even felt fear, in her pure idyllic cocoon. She would have lived in a world of peace and love that could not be adequately described using words. Her mind couldn’t concoct schemes, she couldn’t hate things in her heart. Her patience would have been everlasting. She only knew the beauty of God and her husband who was made in His image. She would not have needed to know what repentance was, such was her unadulterated mind and environment. Oh, how we wait patiently for such a place! When Eve left her perfect world after their sins, it was like being born. Her previous home was both a spiritual and natural womb where there was safety, love and protection. Then, as a child expelled from a birth canal, Eve was thrust into a new environment where so much was different. As a child experiences the elements, hunger, thirst, pain and fear in its new world, Eve also encountered the same for the first time. She was now living on the outside of that wonderful hidden kingdom. Here, lions didn't lay down with lambs, they ate them; and what was that that just bit her? Oh, a mosquito! The sorrow in this poor woman's mind must have been at times unbearable. ‘I did this” she would have repeated over and over again. Eve shouldered a burden greater than most of us today. How does one come back from such a millstone of accountability? To increase the difficulty of the new earth, Eve had to go through the experiences of having her eldest pride and joy turn out a rebellious son, as did Sarah with Ishmael and Rebekah with Esau. Then she endured the unbearable anguish in the loss of her other son. It didn’t take Eve long to feel those things many of us are so familiar with in this life. Like all overcomers, Eve was able to come back from the thoughts and tragedies to rear her next boy, Seth, who was made in the image (godly nature) of his father, Adam. Between Adam and Eve, they raised Seth to continue the
Godly lineage. This child took an interest in the stories of God’s wonders told by his parents. Eve’s wisdom was not wasted on Seth as it was Cain. Again, she could be the mother she had desired to become, and she was exactly that to many other children, making a home and sharing her experience and knowledge with her growing family.
Over time, most men and women of age, and some younger, have experienced considerable anguish and suffering. Many have dug deep to find the courage to keep going. They made new lives for themselves, not forgetting the former, but realising there is only one way to go — forward.
How do you handle tragedy? When your world collapses are you able to rise up from the ashes? Are you able to go on, walking through the pain to create a new chapter in your life?
The Lord calls people to a life of peace over pain, beauty over ashes, joy over mourning, and praise over the heaviness of the heart (Isaiah 61:3). Godly attributes always triumphing over the negative.
He knows suffering must come but states that we can have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) which helps us overcome all obstacles. When we commit to Christ we then have the opportunity to enter a realm of beauty of thought prepared for us. It is already there waiting.
Believers in Jesus Christ are people changed in heart and mind — completely transformed by the Holy Spirit to radiate praise, worship and innocence — a new and wonderful beginning.
Eve was a pioneer in the truest sense, an overcomer who rose up and conquered the obstacles to take her position as a Godly helper and companion for her husband, and worthy mother.
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