Cross My Heart Ministry

“Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son, and he named his Enosh.
At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.”
Genesis 4:25-26

As the events of Genesis 4 drew to a close, perhaps Satan thought it was time to party – Abel is gone and he has Cain in his camp. The only living descendants of Adam have no need for God.

Does Satan really think he can snuff out God’s Genesis 3:15 promise?

In verse 25 – hope is restored, as Eve gives birth to a third son.  Seth means “granted” or another definition reads:  “to set, station, appoint.”  Seth is indeed the one appointed for the line through which Christ would come into the world.  The genealogy of Jesus found in Luke 3 includes Seth’s name.

We also see Eve’s acknowledgment of God’s gift of this third son: “God has granted me another child…”

And we see a huge contrast with Seth’s legacy compared to that of Cain.  Verse 26 reveals, “At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.”

Where in your life and where in my life do we need God’s help?  What are we trying to do by muscle that can really only be done by God’s might?

Is it time to stop striving, stop doing…cease the fretting and hand wringing. — time to let go… and let God?

The woman of God calls on the name of the LORD.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;
it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6-7

Why was Cain angry?  Because he had been found out.  He had failed to deliver the required sacrifice. God could have doled out immediate consequences, but instead He lovingly confronts Cain – gives him an opportunity to repent and change course.

Let’s re-read the sober warning from the passage above:  … if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you…

It is God’s kindness and love that intercedes to warn us, to call us back.

God did not force Cain to obey –just as He didn’t force Cain’s parents to obey.  He permits Cain to choose to obey…or not.

Cain is in the driver’s seat.  The light changes to “yellow” – God’s words to him are a WARNING light.  Does he hit the brakes …. or push down hard on the accelerator and run on through?

You and I also have the benefit of a warning light from God.  As women of God, we have the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the light of His Word.  He shines the light on our path, revealing the danger.  Do we listen and heed His “heads up?”

Even in the midst of heading in the wrong direction, there is time to hit the brakes and make a u-turn.  God will show us the exit ramp – the “way of escape:”

 …when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out
so that you can endure it.
I Corinthians 10:13

 God loves us too much to leave us in our sin. Even in the midst of veering off course, He calls us back.

The woman of God heeds the Holy Spirit’s warning.

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Genesis 4:3-5
(emphasis added)

 Did Cain just bring his leftovers to God?  Did he harvest his crop and keep the best for himself – and then present the gnarly, under-developed, deformed looking vegetables to God?

The Scripture says Abel brought some of the FIRSTBORN to God.  It is indeed a much greater sacrifice to give to God FIRST – because it requires faith and trust that there will be a 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th to come.

When we write out our tithe check FIRST, we are trusting there will be enough money left to pay the electric bill, the house payment and buy groceries the last week of the month.  Financial planners tell you to pay yourself first.  Make your savings deposit first if you want to build up wealth, but God says in Malachi 3:10,

 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

God doesn’t NEED our money – He wants to bless us by giving us opportunity to depend on Him, to demonstrate our faith in Him.

The “first” principle applies not only to our money, but to our time and our talent, as well.  It is a greater sacrifice to do my quiet time first – it requires trusting that everything else on my To Do list for the day will be accomplished.

And I have found it to be true over and over — as I use my gifts to serve Him, He rolls back blessing to me.

The additional benefit of giving to God FIRST is that my attitude is transformed in how I spend the other 90% of my resources and the other 23-23 ½ hours of my day.  I’m less selfish, more God-focused.  My time, talent, and treasure are all spent in ways that honor the God I love and bring Him glory.  I’m less likely to make it all about me when I give to Him FIRST.  Giving to Him first gets “Laura” out of the way and allows the Holy Spirit to lead out as I spend my time, treasure, and talent.

Perhaps for you it’s not the giving first that is the problem, but just the quantity of the giving.  I encourage you to start where you are.  If it’s money, you can use 10% as a guide – but we must remember that it’s all His.  He gave us the job, the ability to do the job, the education required to qualify for the job.  10% sounds like a whole bunch – when we are writing a check.  But let me ask you this:  if our favorite department store advertises a big 10% off sale, do we dash off to the mall?  Probably not.  We yawn at a 10% off coupon– which means 10% is not really a very big deal. It’s all about perspective.

Let’s accept the challenge to ask God to stir up our hearts to not only give to Him, but to give to Him first.  Let’s ask Him for the faith to believe it is really possible.

The Woman of God gives to God FIRST – with her time, her treasure, and her talent.

Whether it was the lack of blood sacrifice or the lack of giving to God first, Abel’s sacrifice found favor with God while Cain’s did not.

“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.”
Genesis 4:3-5

As a young girl, I remember reading this account and thinking it a bit unfair.  If Cain raised crops, why wouldn’t it be ok for him to present crops for his offering?

Now that I’m older, I’m convinced that if a blood sacrifice was required, God would have made that clear.  Perhaps Cain could have traded his choice garden produce to Abel for an animal sacrifice.  God knew Cain’s heart.

God had already set the example that a blood sacrifice was required for the covering of sin.  When Adam and Eve sinned, an animal was killed so that skins could be used to cover them.

The Old Testament sacrificial system would cover sin committed and then a new sacrifice would be required as more sin was committed.  It was a continual process.

What a joy for those who carried the burden of sin from sacrifice to sacrifice to get “clean,” to discover Jesus.  As the perfect sacrificial lamb, He became the once and for all sacrifice.  Hebrews 10:10 says, “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

We are now exempt from the continual cycle of sacrifice to receive forgiveness.  Our sins are not only covered – they are washed clean away by the blood of the lamb of God.

The Woman of God has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

The challenge now is to go live like it.

She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
Genesis 4:1

After the fall of man (and woman) in Genesis 3 and the consequences that followed, we are left with questions such as:

• What happened to Adam & Eve?
• Did they forget about God as they were sent out from the garden?
• Did they have to work so hard to survive that there was no time for God?
• Were they consumed with bitterness and anger towards God– as so many are today when life brings difficult circumstances?

 We are given a clue into answers to some of these questions as we read Eve’s response to the birth of her first son:

With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.  Genesis 4:1

These do not sound like angry or resentful words – but words that acknowledge God’s provision, words of gratefulness.  Perhaps she is even thinking this child will be the fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 promise.

Do you and I acknowledge God’s provision in our lives? Are we grateful for all He has given?

Psalm 16:2 reminds us, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

What “good thing” have we failed to thank God for today? In what area have we neglected to acknowledge His provision?

If God chose to take away everything we had not thanked him for – I wonder how many of us would lose a spouse or a child…would we have to walk home today?  Would our house be there when we got home? Would we find our mattress or refrigerator missing?  Would we have shoes, Tylenol, or peanut butter in the pantry?  How about friends, Sunday School teachers, and mentors?

We need to be thankful.  We need to pray that God would give our children thankful hearts. We need to model that for them.

We can practice thankfulness by redeeming our thought life – as we load the dishwasher, run errands, or fold laundry, the time can be redeemed with prayers of thankfulness.

Ask your children or grandchildren to pray thank you prayers tonight as you put them to bed.

As we cultivate a thankful heart, we simultaneously acknowledge God as the giver of all good things.

Have you thanked God today?

The woman of God gratefully acknowledges God’s provision in her life. 

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.”
Genesis 3:15

The fall of Adam and Eve brought judgment by God.  Genesis 3:15 provides redemption from God.

Like two sides of the same coin, our God is compassionate as well as just.  Into the ocean of sin and judgment of Genesis 3, He drops a life preserver in verse 15:  “…he will crush your head.” This, of course, points to the victory Jesus will have over the evil one.  God’s prophecy is the first gospel, the promise of a future redemption for all of mankind.

God makes a down payment on this future redemption by killing an innocent animal to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).  This points to the redemption we all have in Jesus Christ, the innocent Son of God who died to cover our sin.  The cross is the ultimate victory over the serpent, the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis 3:15.

Adam and Eve were covered in animal skins.  We are covered by the blood of Christ.

Adam and Eve were sent to live out of the garden.  Jesus sends us out with a message to the world.

Because He died sacrificially for us, we can live gratefully, obediently, and joyfully for Him.  Jesus’ first post-resurrection words were uttered to women and included an assignment:  “Go and tell…” Matthew 28:10.  The magnitude of our sin and our fall coupled with the magnanimity of His provision should both compel and propel us forward to proclaim both his justice and his redemption.

Are we ready to be faithful to the privilege and the call to “go and tell?” Where shall I go and whom shall I tell?  Whether across the street, across town, or across the world, we are compelled and propelled by his justice and by His love. The message we carry is the good news– the gospel.

God first revealed His plan for redemption in Genesis 3:15.  Has His message of redemption transformed your heart?  If so, then how can you not share this good news with others?

Lord, bring someone across my path today.  Give me courage and give me words to share the life-changing love of Jesus.

“So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you …”
 To the woman he said, “…    with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
 To Adam he said, “…“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:14-19

 We would have no respect and no tolerance for an earthly judge who winked at law breakers and sent criminals out of his courtroom with a just-don’t-do-it-again lecture. As a society, we expect law breakers to face consequences.

God is the perfect judge.  He is holy and righteous.  A righteous judge must respect the law. God’s one rule was made clear.  When it was violated, His nature required Him to dole out punishment.  Genesis 3:14-19 records consequences to Adam, Eve, the serpent, and even the ground.  Enmity, hard work, pain in childbirth, and thorns and thistles are all consequences of the fall of man.

Specifically to Eve, He also said, “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.”  I believe this means that Eve will want to be in charge, but Adam will be in the headship position. She has lost some of the joy and blessing that was present in her before-the-fall marriage.

I Timothy 2:14 reveals, “And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.”

Eve was deceived.  She thought she knew best. She took a leadership position she was not to take.  Why was she engaging in conversation with the serpent anyway?

And where was Adam?  The scripture clearly says he was not deceived.  But he was there.  Why did he not intervene to protect his wife?  Why did he follow along?  Was it pride…laziness…both?

Whatever the motivation, both sinned.  And there were consequences to both.

We serve a God who is just.  He cannot and will not excuse or dismiss sin. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  He is still holy.  He still requires atonement for sin. You and I also face consequences today for our sinful choices.

The woman of God knows God is just and takes sin seriously.

If you are married, I want to encourage you to pray for your husband.  As wives, we are to follow our husband’s leadership.  As women of God, it’s a joy to follow a man who is following God. That’s how God intended it to be.  Pray for your husband to be a man of God. 

 Lord, lead Kevin to follow you above all else.  He is in the position of needing to both follow you and lead our family.  Equip and enable him to do both.  Bless him abundantly in his role as husband and father.  Thank you for this man of God.

The man said,
“The woman you put here with me—
she gave me some fruit from the tree,
and I ate it.”
Genesis 3:12

Death entered the world when Eve took that first bite – just as God had said it would.  Physical death would come.

But there was also death to perfection.

Death to innocence.

Death to life without shame.

Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves, but sin could not be kept hidden.  And, like our Father Adam and our Mother Eve, our sin, too, will be found it.

God, of course, knows what has happened when He comes to confront Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8.  Their response shows us the “blame game” — so alive and well in our society today– was played first in the Garden of Eden.

When confronted, Adam not only blamed Eve but had the audacity to infer that God was partly culpable:  “The woman you put here with me…”  (emphasis added) When it was her turn to answer, Eve blamed the serpent.

When convicted by the Holy Spirit, our response should be “Yes, Sir” – no blaming, shirking, rationalizing, or denying.

I John 1:10 warns, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

Alternatively, confession brings blessing:  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

Denial or confession?  Which do we choose when the Holy Spirit nails us?

Lord, when you convict me, give me the courage to respond with confession. Thank you for the cleanness in my spirit that the sweet blessing of forgiveness brings.

“…you will be like God…”
Genesis 3:5

          Eve was lured away by the temptation to be like God.  Pride.  Nothing new under the sun.  It is the same temptation that lures us in today and persuades us to doubt God’s Word.  We want to be the boss, to call the shots, to control our own destiny.

Eve liked the idea of being like God.  The scheming words of the serpent prompted her to take a second look at the forbidden fruit.  Genesis 3:6a says she saw that the fruit was “good for food and pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom.”

And then she ate the fruit.

The second look led Eve to take the first bite and to commit the first sin.  Just like today, all sin begins in our mind.  We think about it, rationalize it, and then plunge ahead.  To coin a phrase from Neil Armstrong, that was “one small bite for woman, but one huge swallow of sin for all mankind.”

Sin both then and now ripples out to affect those around us.  Eve gave the fruit to her husband and he also ate it. She drags him down with her! Our sin affects others.  What sin are you and I choosing to walk in? What example are we setting for our children?  If our kids grow up and make the same sinful choices, choose the same sinful lifestyle, will we be surprised?  Disappointed?  Our example is the equivalent of handing our kids the fruit.  Here – eat this!

Temptation led to sin.  But temptation is not sin.  Even Jesus was tempted.  God always provides a way out:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
I Corinthians 10:13

Lord, light up the exit sign – show me the way of escape when I face temptation.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman,
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1

 “Did God really say?”  We can’t see the emphasis, but I think the crafty one focused heavily on the word really.

The serpent’s plan was to get Eve to doubt God’s word.  He didn’t try right away to get her to eat the fruit.  He was clever, devious.  Just get a toehold of doubt into the door of her heart and then He would be posed to throw open the door to sin.  He is patient, wily, leading her slowly from step 1 to 2…not jumping to 10 too quickly. And step 1 in his temptation playbook:  get her to doubt God’s Word.

It’s so easy for us to condemn Eve, but…don’t we do this every day?  We also doubt God’s Word.  God may have not spoken audibly to us, but we have His WORD – the BIBLE! Consider this one verse from Proverbs:

“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”  Proverbs 22:3

What danger do we see and refuse to take steps to ward it off?  A lifestyle that is not healthy for my body?  A car that is growing older every day but I’m not saving to have it repaired?  Continued poor financial choices, relationship choices, use of time choices?  The thought that skitters across our minds – “this is not good, I should change course…” should be followed by action, taking refuge.  God warns us that suffering will come!  And yet – we continue in the path that leads to destruction.

We shake our heads and sigh as we look at the life of Eve.  “How could she doubt?” we ask.  But yet…our choices to act and choices to NOT act render us culpable, as well. Just like our mother Eve, we doubt God’s Word.  Where do we need to believe HIM? To believe His Word, we must read and know HIS word.  That’s at least part of the reason we study the Bible.  We are not just here to soak up knowledge, but to walk in obedience to what we learn and know.

As we study His Word, it becomes ours.  We know it, we believe it, and we are ready to quote it when temptation comes.

And quoting it is exactly what Eve does – at first:

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”Genesis 3:2-3.

(Actually, she changes God’s instructions ever so slightly.  She adds an extra caveat – do not touch.  Perhaps she created an extra hedge to ensure obedience – if she did not touch, she certainly would not taste!)

I’ve been challenged by God this year to intentionally and deliberately memorize large passages of Scripture.  One of the blessings that comes from having God’s Word hidden in our hearts is the Holy Spirit will bring scripture to mind when it is needed.  We can ask God to give us a verse that specifically addresses a challenge or problem area for us.

As followers of Christ we need to believe God’s Word.  We must study it, know it, meditate on it, and intentionally live it.  Not because it’s drudgery or a “have-to,” but because it is what is good and best for us.

The child of God believes God. And to believe Him is to believe His Word.

Lord, I want to believe You.  Show me truth today from your Word and then give me both conviction and courage to walk in that truth.