EVE OF ADAM

Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

The woman is the most beautiful thing God created. She’s the joy and comfort to men and families (Genesis 24:67). Either as wife or mother she’s the  the rallying point and center for peace in the family and that explain the reason the devil often attack her person using the agency of herself or her type to attack the family. No man can find true satisfaction, not even in other women outside his wife. She’s the best preserver of destinies apart from God, the best family secrets are hers to keep, whatever you give her is sure safe when she’s wise and determined to be her true self. She’s the music that makes a home out of a house unless she decides otherwise. Nothing satisfies and gladdens the man than the thought of a loving and caring wife and no better source of confidence and morale booster for a child than the thought of a good, wise and praying mother. This the devil is fully aware of and thus make her the target of his wiles and attacks.

Eve might be excused being the first and only woman in Eden, no other woman before her whose experience might have benefited her. However, God did not spare her foolishness because in her make-up was the ability to say no to the tempter far more than Adam could boast of but she made a mess of it. The rest is history and lessons for today’s Woman. Why did Eve fail?

1. She Ignored Her Limits

Genesis 3:1-2 “Now the serpent…said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:”

The worst mistake of Eve was to engage the devil in conversation, she thought she knew God’s mind so well as to argue God’s Words with the enemy. Don’t argue the Bible or converse with the devil, he’s the best in his field. It always start like a stray thought “Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” – Gen. 3:1 but the enemy has an end in mind if given the opportunity. He was not so caring about their welfare, what they eat and what they did not eat, he was only jealous of their freedom and peace with God. Some women can discuss their family and children with just anybody in the name of friendship and street neighbourliness. They can be so careless with details and therein jeopardize their family welfare.

If you must talk your family with anyone do it with your spiritual sense in place, there are demons in human skin and they can be very friendly to a fault. Be careful! Don’t be the window through which the enemy have a convenient viewing spot into the activities of grace in your family. Choose your friends wisely. Spiritually sensitive Christian women rarely fall into the enemies trap like Eve, who left personal fellowship with God for the husband to do on behalf of her family and instead chose being with the enemy a thing of pride. 

Whoever enjoy discussing gritty details of your family a subject of talks in every conversation should be given a second thought. That doesn’t mean every acts of care and concern by people God has place around you should be treated with suspicions, we are only saying personal family details should stay personal and when and where they must need be discuss do it with the right persons, by the leading of God’s Spirit in you. As many are led by His Spirit are called children of God. If you belong to God, He will guide you if you daily commit the working of your mouth to Him.

Jesus said by their fruit they will be revealed. The best way to recognize the working of evil is through the words of mouth. The devil might be able to deceive but he’s always careless with God’s Words. Take your time to read through what people say to you, those with evil intentions always leave careless words behind that is contrary to God’s Word for your life. Never treat such words as mere mistakes. Always take note of what people confess when they are around you, whoever’s confessions and words does not reflect the mind of God for your life and family does not deserve to know more than necessary about your spouse and your children, it doesn’t matter the level of closeness.

By the words of mouth everyone will be condemned or justify, God is not only interested in what you confess to your life, what others say to your life and the lives of your family members is equally very important to God and even to the devil. Know your limits in every conversation you are engaged in, there are limits you don’t break unless you are certain God is leading you to open up to that person at that point in time. There are friends that wish they are married to your husband, there are neighbours that wish your children are theirs and there are people that look so caring but wish they can exchange their home for yours.  Some for sure will help you make things better but there are others that talk only out of concealed jealousy and their hearts are not right with you. If care is not taken and silence warnings of the Holy Spirit are repeatedly ignored, like the case of Eve, some vital family grounds might be ceded to the enemy.

Same goes for postings and activities on social media, there are families and individuals you don’t have to even get close to before you know everything about them: What they do, what they eat, their foreseeable future engagements, their weaknesses and strengths etc.  Just visit their Facebook or any other social media pages and you will have every information you need about them. Many are giving more than necessary information about themselves and their families on Facebook, Instagram etc. It is a sign of indiscipline and feeling of personal inadequacies to post everything and anything about yourself, your spouse and your children on social media. The world care less  about your happiness or otherwise, if you are happy learn to keep it to yourself, if you are beautiful you don’t need a thousand likes to feed your pride to assure you of God’s grace upon you.

If you are pregnant keep it to yourself, if you are sick, you don’t have to tell the whole world, why must you post the pictures of your new arrival for everyone to see on Facebook? Only God can estimate how many new babies destinies have been shortchanged on social media by ignorant parents who keep posting their pictures online. Monitoring spirits don’t have to visit homes to know the progress reports of some families and their children, there are free information willingly given by parents online already. Sister, stop being myopic. Many are like Eve on social media who told the serpent everything she knew about her home and happiness. If you think you are truly loved because you got a thousand likes and several shares on social media, then you have not learnt from the fall of Eve who gave herself up by herself when she gave the devil too much information and her family fell with her.

Men too are not exempted, there are people that are better kept in the dark on happenings in your home. Carelessly discussing your wife with your secretary, female colleagues and friends can be the opening the enemy has been looking for to access your life and family. Women can be very smart, they know how to play strong in areas where your wife is weak in order to win your heart to themselves, because you gave them all the information they needed to play on your ignorance. That was the undoing of Eve that led to the loss of their home and her family peace.

2. She Got Carried Away With Fantasies

Genesis  3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Many women are known to have given in very easily to fantasies and the promise of the nonexistent. So many are in marriages and relationships that fell below their expectations because they believed what they saw without investigating and questioning their intuitions. It all began with Eve. She ate the fruit not necessarily because of what the serpent (Revelations 12:9) said but because of what she saw, the tempter only worked on prior fantasies Eve had noticed and nursed all along within herself as per the tree at the center of the garden.

Devil: …hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Eve: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

Devil: Ye shall not surely die:  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

(And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat…).

Try take note of what the enemy said and what the woman saw, there is a wise gap between the two statements. The serpent statement was slightly different to what the woman saw but the devil’s suggestion was powerful enough to activate and set in motion a potential disastrous desire. The serpent introduced a fruit but Eve saw it had the ability:

(i) to open the eye (i.e. to have corrupt, imperfect and worldly understanding of happenings around).

(ii) to make them like gods (to be wise, as gods) and,

(iii) to help them know (i.e. have knowledge of) good and evil.

But the woman who was more of a victim of her own lust fell into the devil’s temptation of eating from the tree because she saw: 

(i) that the tree was good for food (good to satisfy fleshly desire and lust thereof).

(ii) that it was pleasant to the eyes (good to satisfy lust of the eye and the intent of the heart) and

(iii) a tree to be desired to make one wise (sense of being better and superior to others).

Thereafter, “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Source: Genesis 3:1-6.

3. HER FOCUS BECAME HER LUST

James 1:14 says “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” Temptation is a spiritual cancer that feast on the lust of its host where and when allowed to fester. Before temptations degenerate into actual sins, the lust in men must have taken time to nurse it and mutually actualize its intents in manner acceptable to the tempter and the tempted. There were two trees at the center of Eden (Gen.2:9; 3:22), one was forbidden which is the tree of knowledge and the other was allowed to be eaten, which was the tree of life. From Eve description one can assumed the tree of knowledge of good and evil to be very appealing and of beautiful appearance than the tree of life and she got captivated and lusted after it forgetting that all that glitter is not gold.

If she had desired the tree of life as much as she did the other tree, the entire human history would have been different today. The women folk have not changed much, she’s beautiful and the desire to stay beautiful and acquire beautiful things always conflict with her sense of judgement. The devil knew this, even before the fall, himself being a victim of his own beauty and he played well enough around this God given desire in the woman to make her run against the purpose of God for her family. Many women can trust their children, that represent their today and future, into the hands of total strangers for hours but will be too careful to so the same for their precious material possessions.

The more beauty and fashion conscious a woman is, the less likely she will get attracted to the gospel which is a type of the tree of life especially when the tenet of the gospel brushes her desire for self-consciousness and vain glory. Many marriages has been contracted not because of what the men promised but because of what the women saw or imagined. The reason for so many conflicts in marriages, especially the new ones, is because some women expectations, what they thought the man was were not met shortly after the wedding day. The disappointments that come with expectations that were cut short are most time the foundations for sad countenance and lack of interest in love making and total disappointment in their spouse and  in the new family. Why? It is because what she thought the man was and what she got in the marriage is a far cry from what she saw when both were unmarried.

A quick self-made answer is to say the man must have been pretending all along, yes that may be true but it is also important that the woman too must have ignored vital signs and warnings, she was so much in love that her eyes were shut to glaring faults that were caution lights that could have saved her if she had looked beyond physical beauty and the promise of a better life. For example, it will take more than wishful thinking to drag a man who has never shown committed interest in God and church to church services on Sundays and Bible study classes during the week, if that was not properly taken care of before the wedding date.

To the unmarried, please don’t ignore physical appeals, they are good and necessary but spiritual, emotional, financial, social compatibility etc must never be ignored as well. Whatever, you are not comfortable with before the marriage will not automatically change for your benefit after the marriage vow has been exchanged. Things are not always the way they appear, don’t judge situations by your senses alone, advice and wisdom of faithful men are like pearls that must not be thrown away. Above all, never despise the place of prayer and the God factor in the affairs of men.

4. Not All Good Deal are Good

Never finalize a deal no matter how beneficiary it may seem to your family without a prior consultation with your husband. Eve makes deal without the consent of the husband, only to coerce or manipulate her husband into approval when the deal is done and perfected by her. She never understood the import of her error until her husband ate the fruit and the eyes of them both were opened.

Be sincere in judgement and in advice, bring all the facts to the table. Express your fear when you have one, win your husband heart, not just with your beauty but with your seasoned advice. Christian women are truthful, Christian women are sincere, Christian women must be found to be honest at all times, nothing should be done with hidden intention. Women outside grace believe men don’t deserve to be told all the truths, else they won’t take you for real. That is the way of Eve that pave way for the Fall, but those with the Spirit of Christ must be seen to be different. In the immediate, it might seem honesty pay less but in the long run you win better because your husband heart will safety trust you, and appreciate your truthfulness at all time, soon he will do nothing, take no major decisions without your inputs once he realize you never have to do anything for self and personal interest.

No family does well when personal interests override family and collective benefits. Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took and ate but nothing harmful seem to have happened. If it look like you are enjoying the fruit of disobedience, please don’t make your family eat from there, the results is not always friendly. Money from dubious means might be sweet to spend, but stealing from official/public purse and cheating others to provide food, education and shelter for your family has devastating spiritual effect in the long run on the health and wellbeing of the children and family members that can ever be thought of in the immediate terms. Never use stolen money to raise your children, ill-gotten wealth is like a bad investment in the future of any child and by the time the eyes of those involved will be opened to the danger of leaving at the expense of other people’s happiness, the havoc done would have gone too far than ever imagined.

Proverbs 31:11 “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.” The best way to make your husband heart “safely trust” is to be his prayer partner and complete help meet in the place of prayers. Prayer alone is the only personal deal you can have with God without a prior approval from your husband. A praying wife is a cover, a fitting crown for her husband and on her will “the heart of her husband doth safely trust…so that he shall have no need of spoil”. No devil can spoil a home where the woman in the house spend more time with God than she does with persons and issues that has no direct bearing on the spiritual and general wellbeing of her family.

5. She Failed To Take Responsibility

Genesis 3:13 “And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”

One common weakness women shared with men from the fall of Adam and Eve is the inability to take responsibility. It take courage, humility and grace to accept fault especially when we think we are on our right. Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” – Matt. 5:9. It will take a good understanding of that scripture to follow the path of peace even when you have reason to defend yourself and blame the other person.

There is always somebody or something to blame when we are confronted with our past. It is not normal for human being to take responsibility. Normal people cannot serve God, the Christian life is a higher life, a higher call, not meant for normal people. They are men and women whose lives and lifestyles *”…have turned the world upside down” – Acts 17:6*. Any relationship where partners are unwilling to take responsibility with love in order to forge ahead will hardly be free from conflicts. When a marriage fall, the man fail, because the covenant was his to keep and when the man failed, the woman too is without excuse. A wise woman keep her home, the foolish will fan it like smoke into the wind (Prov. 14:1).

Adam blamed “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me” and the Eve said “This serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” (Gen.3: 12-14). Adam forgot he was part and parcel of that error since he was too weak to protect his wife and his home from the invasion of the enemy, who pretended to be friend. He shied away from the truth and blame his wife and the woman not wanting to be the object of blame, passed the ball to the serpent, forgetting she “saw” the fruit was good as she played into the trap of the adversary. As long as we keep blaming ourselves as man and wife, we won’t make any serious progress. The man and the woman as joint heir in the Commonwealth of Grace in Christ Jesus must be willing to accept faults when things go bad and make corrections where and when needed. No one can be hundred percent innocent in any marital conflict, find out where you have contributed wrongly and make amend. That’s God expectation from every Christian home and that’s what the children expected of us.

6. She Disastrously Played The Head

The woman is not the head of the family, neither is she the tail, she’s simply the woman and she must be contented being the woman. Let your husband be the head, even when he appear to be slow in taken decisions and poor manager of opportunities. Men are naturally blessed with the ability to read few steps ahead of the present benefits and a wise woman will respect the man’s headship even when she’s more intelligent and better educated. Never marry a man whom natural abilities you are strongly convince are inferior to yours unless you are ready to submit in to him in the spirit of humility. Adam was with Eve all the time she conversed with the serpent, she acted as the family arrow head, then ate the fruit and “gave also unto her husband ‘with’ her and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6).

Let everyone abide in the grace wherewith he/she is called, no Christian woman should suppress her husband voice and opinion in matter affecting her family just because she’s better placed financially or intellectually or otherwise. Even if you are spiritually stronger than him, be very careful in your dealings, there is no reason under heaven for any woman to rob a man his God ordained place in destiny. Let him be the head in all things and be contented being his woman in the bond of grace as heir and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). God is the head of Christ and Christ is the head of the man, and the man the head of the woman and together they watch and pray over their children. If the man is not spiritual and cannot fully function in his spiritual duty as the high priest in the family, a spiritual woman will keep him up in prayers, while she deputize for him, until the work of grace is perfected in him.

The woman is multi-talented, multi powerful and yet as her strength, so is her weakness (1 Peter 3:7) she must know her limits and operate within the bounds of her strengths. That was the error of Eve, a woman that fear the Lord, will step clear and honour her husband and the man who does not want his prayers hinder will honour and love her (1 Peter3:7). You cannot say you fear God and honour Him when you are not contented being the woman and the mother in your home and for your family. Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

May God speak more to your hearts on this in Jesus Name. Amen.