Eve: Perfection Doesn't Equal Contentment

This year, in my devotions, I am going to be studying the Women of the Bible.  I have a little devotional book that I will follow, and each week, I will study a new woman in the Bible. I am very excited about this study, and I thought that I maybe would share it on my blog.  It provides some accountability for me, and hopefully, the Lord will use this study to help you, as well as me! :)

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EVE

I have to admit, when I began to study the story of Eve, I thought to myself “What could I possibly learn from Eve that I haven’t learned before?”  I mean, I’ve heard her story at least once a year, ever since I was in nursery at church.  But God showed me her story in a completely different light this week, and now, I would like to share with you! :)

Eve:  Her Story

The story of Eve is one that almost every person, Christian and non-Christian alike, knows.  “Eve? Why yes, I have heard of her.  She ate that forbidden fruit and now we all live with the consequences!  Dumb Eve!”  That is how she is often viewed…just a silly woman who did her own thing and ruined life for everybody else!

But there is so much more to Eve.  Think about it…Eve knew what it was like to be perfect! She had the perfect body, complexion, life, and, of course, the perfect man! She knew a level of living that we will never know until we get to Heaven.  She also had a perfect and personal fellowship with the Creator of the world! She literally walked with God every day! She also knew God’s perfect will…God had given her a wonderful man, life, and environment for which she had been specifically created.

But all that changed one day, the day she allowed herself to listen to Satan.

It’s interesting, to me, the way that Satan worked in this story.  First of all, he found a way to sneak into a perfect Garden.  But, he had to be very subtle, indeed.  He couldn’t tempt that “dark place” inside Eve.  He didn’t attack her with her besetting sin, because she had never sinned!  No…he tempted her with what she already had.  He used the perfection around her and tempted her with it…he suggested that her life could be better than it already was.  That there was something else she needed to make her life even more perfect. 

And for some reason, she fell for it!  It seems so silly to us, yet, we do the same thing in our lives.  Many times, Satan uses our surroundings or the good things around us to tempt us.  He can turn our best intents and desires and use them to bring us down.

Eve grew discontent with her perfect life and wanted just a little bit more.  He made her second guess God’s will and take matters into her own hands.  In a moment of weakness and hesitation, Eve gave up what she wanted most for what she wanted at the moment! And the consequences were long-lasting.

If the devil would tempt perfect Eve with discontentment and doubt, then how much more will he try to temp us with such things?  He will try to sneak into our thoughts and desires and motives, just as he did with Eve, and cause to us become discontent with God’s blessings in our lives. 

Her Life and Times

Eve was the first woman ever. This means every feeling, emotion and experience she encountered had never happened before…she had no one to explain what it means to be a woman to her.  She had to face that pain and fear on her own. 

Eve was such a brave woman. She had faith in God and in her husband, but she also had inner strength as well. She was a fighter. She was the first woman to experience child birth!  She probably was so very scared. I imagine that while she was in labor, she thought about the sin she’d committed. She knew this was the consequence of her discontent and doubt. But she also knew that God was with her and that His Grace would help her thru the dark, painful times. 

Imagine what she must have felt when she looked at her baby boy for the first time?  She knew that the small child she held in her arms was proof of God’s grace! We may do some terrible things and grieve God, but He will never turn us away when we repent.  Yes,  we have to live with the consequences of our sin, but He will find ways to help us and let us know He’s always there.  He didn’t forsake Eve and He won’t forsake us!

Her Promise

“Sometimes, God’s grace is most often beautifully evident within His judgments.”

“When you’re at your lowest, on your knees before God’s judgment, never forget that His grace is still at work.”

Eve shows us grace in suffering and trials.  Even in our dark times, God is there right beside us, step by step.  What a truly amazing God we serve!

Her Legacy of Prayer

Eve’s story gives us the promise of a Redeemer who will come to crush the serpent’s head!  It also teaches that God had specifically created each and every one of us for a special and unique purpose, and we may have the tendency to mar that image and do our own will.  But God has a bigger purpose, and we must trust Him completely!

“I was made for Paradise.  The joys I now taste are infinitesimal compared to those that await me in Heaven.”  But, unfortunately, sin has made this earth completely opposite of Paradise!  But, in the midst of judgment and trials, God always is there and always offers hope. We must strive to not allow discontentment and doubt to keep us from Gods’ perfect will. God had a wonderful purpose in creating each of us and we must allow Him to help us reach that potential, in Him!