Reflect back on Genesis 3:14-15- 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. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God spoke to the serpent and gives us clues to the gospel story that he is inviting us into. But with good news comes bad news. God’s response, lament, is naming that there will be continued hostility between humanity and evil, but God doesn’t leave us there. He gives us a way out, he gives us victory over evil. Victory over evil because of Christ’s work at the cross and victory over evil because of our identity as beloved sons and daughters of God, who gives us the victory.

Then we saw God speak to Eve and we wrestled with that painful passage of 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children." I won’t delve into all of it, because it carried so much weight, but let me summarize it this way and if you want to understand more, please go back and listen to July 19th service.

God is naming the fact that there is pain (worry, hardship, anxiety) in conceiving or not being able to conceive, being pregnant, having a child, raising children, losing a child. God is declaring this is broken, he didn’t do this to you, he is saying this is the pain of a broken world.

My push was; this isn’t about blaming God for the brokenness in childbearing, He didn’t do this to you, it’s a crying out of saying, “I don’t know why this is so hard, but I know life is broken, how do I trust God in the midst of brokenness? How do you trust despite the grief and pain? How do I trust God in the midst of unfulfilled or broken dreams.

Today, in our review, how are seeing God’s response to a broken and lost world? Maybe yours? Maybe those around you? Where do you need to see God lament on your behalf? Where do you need God’s victory in life? Where do you need to trust him, despite the pain of unfulfilled or broken dreams?

Take a moment with this song as well.