Genesis Part 1 - Week 7

Day 1 

READ 

Genesis 3:8-9 

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 

Until the second person of the Trinity took on a human body, God had no body. Adam did not see anyone but he “heard” God in the garden. That was enough to scare him so Adam and Eve hid “among the trees.” Apparently they had not yet learned one could not hide from God. The Lord called out to ask where the man was. This was a question God did not need to ask but for the sake of this frightened man he needed to answer. 

REFLECT 

Have you at times thought you could hide from God, or hide what you have done from Him? 

RESPOND 

Join with a friend in considering the thoughts in this passage. For the time when the second person of the trinity took on human form, see Philippians 2:5-11. For the truth that God knows everything, see what the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 139:1-6. To see what the power of the Word of God is, see Hebrews 4:12-13. 

Day 2 

READ 

Genesis 3:10-11 

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 

Frightened Adam answered that he had hidden from God because he was naked. God probed him to answer who told him that. God knew, of course. God also asked if he had eaten the forbidden fruit and disobeyed His instructions. As a wise teacher who knows the answer, God knew the answers to His questions, but He wanted Adam to admit who told him he was naked and what he had done. 

REFLECT 

If you are responsible for others, have you sometimes asked them questions when you already knew the answer? 

RESPOND 

Asking questions and then answering is a technique used by teachers and even the writers God used to pen the Scriptures. See Romans 10:17-19 as an example.  

Day 3 

READ 

Genesis 3:12 

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 

Shifting the blame to someone else is not new. It’s done today by people in all walks of life. Here, Adam immediately shifted the blame to the woman God had given him. It seems in addition to blaming the woman; he was also blaming God who gave the woman to him. As referred to previously, the Scriptures say that the woman was deceived but Adam was not (see 1 Timothy 2:14). Adam knew the significance of what he was doing when he ate the forbidden fruit. 

REFLECT 

Have you been guilty of shifting the blame to someone else when you were the one at fault? 

RESPOND 

Visit with a friend about the importance of followers of Christ being blameless. 1 Timothy 3:2 says a church leader must be above reproach. Titus 1:7 says he is to be blameless. No one is perfect. When a person has done wrong, however, he should be willing to admit it and desire to be reconciled to the one who was sinned against.  

Day 4 

READ 

Genesis 3:13 

13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate.”  

After Adam shifted the blame to Eve, God asked her what she had done. She blamed the serpent through whom Satan spoke to her and twisted what God had said. She does not admit that she saw the fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her (see Genesis 3:6). She did admit, however, that she was deceived. 

REFLECT 

Have you been guilty sometimes of blaming Satan for something you did? 

RESPOND 

Read James 1:12-15 to see that temptation to do wrong never comes from God. A person yields when he or she is drawn away by their own desires. Only the person is to be blamed. 

Day 5 

READ 

Genesis 3:14-15 

14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 

God addressed the serpent and pronounced a curse on it. Part of that curse was it was to crawl on its belly, indicating that must not have been the form in which it appeared to Eve. God also predicted anger between the serpent’s descendants and the woman’s descendants. An offspring of the woman would strike the head of the serpent, but the offspring of the serpent would strike His heel. Genesis 3:15 is considered one of the first prophecies about the triumph of Jesus over Satan.  

REFLECT 

Praise the Lord that although Jesus suffered when He went to the cross, He destroyed Satan’s effectiveness. 

RESPOND 

Join with a friend in reading Hebrews 2:14-15 that tells about Jesus breaking the power of death held by Satan, also known as the devil. See also John 8:44 to see who the children of the devil are.