In the Old Testament, if people were obedient to God, then they received a blessing in their lives because of it
In other words, the more of the 633 commands that the Israelites followed, the more blessings they received from the LORD and, therefore, people used this as a way to gauge how obedient others were by their possessions, fertility, and health
Yet, all this meant was that God poured out His blessings to them when people were closet to Him
When Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the ground for “their sake” and also, sorrow came into their lives because God still wanted to give us a way to come back to Him
Therefore, because the ground was cursed, it was in that moment that man needed to rely on God to provide for them. Man needed to cry out to God for help, but in doing so, God would draw nearer to them
How beautiful is this image for us today, because although Jesus fulfilled the law, He is now our way to the Father
Friends, so many times, we can see our pain and heartache in our lives as punishment in some way from God, and yet, God said that because of sin, it would bring sorrow into our lives
I love this notion that hard times are not a punishment from the LORD but are opportunities for blessing
New Testament living isn’t about the amount we have in this life means we are blessed – we don’t live until the prosperity Gospel, but a Gospel of love and grace, and thus, although the ground is still cursed, our blessing today is found from being close to God – who loves us unconditionally and gives eternal life – when we cry out to Him for help
“cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”
Genesis 3:17
Categories: Genesis
