This week we are unpacking Genesis 3:14-24, if you listened to the message from Sunday, you will know that we only got so far. There is much within this entire passage. It was also cool to hear of people taking time to unpack portions of this passage for themselves, not just unpacking during the message. That’s the value of giving you these faith challenges, to take what is shared on a Sunday and apply it throughout the week or dig deeper on certain things that connect.

Let’s go back to the first verse in our section, I want to draw your attention to the characters and the impact for each of them, not only individually, but how it also impacts relationally.
Remember this is God’s lament, his poem of grief and the impact of brokenness and lostness in the world.

Genesis 3:14- 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

I mentioned last week that the serpent slithered, but here we see God “curse” the serpent by crawling on his belly and eating dust. Does that mean in the first part of Genesis 3 it was a walking and talking serpent and as a part of the curse he got his legs taken away? Others say that the serpent had wings, like a dragon, a chaos monster and now is grounded. I don’t know which it was, but what I do know is there is an imagery of being brought low, a defeat. Either way the serpent is cursed and destined to be brought low from its high position.

Notice what happens next with the serpent and Eve. Genesis 3:15- 15 And I will put enmity (hostility) between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Let’s break this down, there is hostility between Eve and the serpent (remember, the rest of scripture shows us this ancient serpent is the satan, evil). Which means God’s lament is that there is hostility, division, oppression between the woman and the satan. But it isn’t just Eve, or the woman, it also says there is hostility between the offspring or the seed of the woman and the offspring or seed of the serpent.

This is a continual battle between good and evil, tov and ra, life and death. This doesn’t mean that the battle is against baby snakes, I would argue it doesn’t even relate to our battle being against demons, as if the seed of the satan are demons. I believe God is naming the what Paul names in Ephesians 6:12- our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and evil forces of this dark world. Or what James 4:1-2 says, “What causes quarrels and fights among you? Does it not come from your desires?”

My point is this, in God’s lament, his grief is that we will always have an adversary, it can be spiritual forces, it can be humanity that goes against the things of God. Either way, the pain of this world is that we will have to deal with hostility and at times from unlikely sources (we’ll see this firsthand in our next chapter with Cain and Able).

For a moment, where in your life do you see an adversary? This isn’t about “not getting your way” but when you seek the things of God, something comes against you? How do you seek God’s guidance and endurance through situations like that? How can you reset yourself and see that your battle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against evil forces? Which means, spiritually speaking you need to have a different response?