Walking Among Them: Eve

Posted by Lori | 0 comments

Welcome to our first study!
The object of this study is to take some time out of our busy, often chaotic days and spend some time with women who have gone before us. Not just any women, but 26 women of the Bible. We’ll “Walk Among Them” and see how their stories relate to our lives. It’s my hope that we will discover God’s presence and grace in our own lives as the lives and lessons of these women unfold before us this year.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

It’s the only logical place to begin, at the beginning. She was the woman of firsts. The word “Eve” means “life,” or “life~giver,” or the “mother of all living.” She was the first to see a man, hold a man. The first to give birth, the first to hold a baby and nurse, and she was the first to feel shame, blame and pain. Eve was the first to experience temptation.

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:4-5

For many of us have seen Eve through the eyes of judgment. We often forget that Eve had no experience with deceit and had no idea what temptation was, she simply had not obeyed God. It was in the words of Sara Groves that I was convicted about my thoughts of Eve many years ago and it’s never left me:
(you can click on the link HERE to hear the words as sung by Sara, it’s powerful!)

The results of her choices were vast. Eve was the first but she wasn’t the last.

If I were honest with myself, had I been standing at that tree, my mouth and my hands would be covered with fruit. Things I shouldn’t know and things I shouldn’t see. .

Chorus: Remind me of this with every decision. Generations will reap what I sow. I can pass on a curse or a blessing to those I will never know. .

She taught us to fear the serpent. I’m learning to fear myself and all of the things I am capable of in my search for acceptance, wisdom and wealth. To say the devil made me do it is a cop-out and a lie. The devil can’t make me do anything when I’m calling on Jesus Christ”

If I were HONEST with myself, and I had been standing at that tree, there isn’t a DOUBT in my mind that I’d be covered with the fruit. WHY? Because temptations plague me daily and I don’t always obey what I KNOW God wants from me. The temptations are often too powerful and in weakness, apart from God, I fall for it, just as Eve did. It’s convicting and what connects us with EVE is that she faced what each of us face daily….

WOW.

Temptation is never ugly. Never has been. Imagine that apple, or if that doesn’t work for you, imagine a GIANT Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Bar dangling in front of you. See where this is going?? Temptation is the urge to stay in bed rather than getting up and beginning the day with organization. Temptation is not exercising. Temptation is looking at things we shouldn’t and turning away from the things we are called to passionately notice.

Eve was surrounded by beauty and blessings. Aren’t we all? Sadly, it’s often not enough and we look out of the corner of our eye and find ourselves tempted, much like Eve. Perhaps it’s in understanding the temptation of Eve and her fall that we can not only come to understand her, but appreciate her lessons.

Eve was created in the image of God, capable of reflecting HIM, just as he created us. HE provides us with every gift we’ll need to glorify Him. It’s in taking matters into our own hands that we find ourselves not leaning in to listen to what God whispers, but listening to the other voices and we too fall.

Eve stumbled because in her “human~ness” what God provided just wasn’t enough. It was. She looked away from what was “GOOD and From God” and fell, and we all know the rest of this story. Girlfriends, that trap has been set since the beginning of time. The trap of “it’s not enough.” The ONLY way to avoid it is to put yourself in the perfect will of God. Easier said than done. It applies as much to our lives today as it did then.

Temptation is alive and well! We’ve got to look closely at our own lives and the temptations that plague us, for it’s only in being aware of that enemy lurking in our lives that we can recognize and fear that serpent. It’s in looking at our lives and homeschools that we will “fear ourselves” and realize that “the devil can’t make us do ANYTHING, when we’re calling on Jesus Christ.”

With each woman that we study, I’ll have some thoughts and ideas for reflection, meditation and journaling, that will be called “Reflections from the Walk.” It’s in Walking Among Them that we can learn lessons that we can take with us on our daily walks.

Reflections from the Walk:

1. Try this simple doodle, even if you are NOT an artist!

What do you have? What does that mean to you?2. As mothers and homeschoolers we often remind our children of their actions/consequences. Reflect on your recent actions and the resulting consequences however simple they may be.

Do you notice any areas that are in need of change? Are there any actions that instead of yielding reward, yield consequence, and what can you do to change that?

3. What tempts you? TRULY tempts you? Make an honest list, and it may not be as easy as you think. Spending time meditating on what tempts you is the only way to prepare for battle against a tempter who’s been at it since the dawn of time.

Look at this list of temptations that plague most women. Spend some time journaling specific instances where you’ve been tempted in these areas. (some may not apply to you)

food

jealousy

money

sex

vanity

pride

approval

control

apathy

avoidance

escape

4. Read the quote below:

“The weaknesses we see in the people of the Bible are the very weaknesses we ought to recognize in ourselves. Live Eve who ate the forbidden fruit we are vulnerable to temptation when we act on our own. Like Abraham, who lied about his wife to save his neck, we are vulnerable to temptation when we are scared. Like David, who slept with Bathsheba while his men were off to war, we are vulnerable to temptation when we are idle. Like Elijah, who wanted God to end his life, we are vulnerable to temptation when we are exhausted. Like Peter, who denied his Lord even after he promised to die for him, we are vulnerable to temptation when we are overconfident. In other words, we are vulnerable to temptation practically all the time.”

Can you see yourself cast as any of these characters?
Spend a day jotting down the times when you were tempted; Do you notice that you were more likely to “fall” when you were idle, exhausted, scared or trying to control it all?

5. Reflecting on the words of Sara Groves, how can you draw closer to Jesus such that the “devil can’t make you do ANYTHING?”

6. Meditate on the 1 Corinthians 10:13;

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.”

Does this encourage you? Use this verse as your reminder that God is faithful and that the temptation is only temporary. Perhaps write it down in and keep it visible as a tangible reminder that God is faithful, even when we are tempted.

It’s in looking and walking with our sister Eve that we can identify what tempts us most in our own lives and homes. The lessons of Eve are exactly what we live with today. It’s in this walk with Eve that we can learn so much, and come to understand that the only way to overcome the temptations of this life is to cling to the hem of Christ.

Join me on January 24th as we take a walk down the dusty path with Sarah.

Download the study questions in a pdf file.

Lori is a 5 year homeschool mom to 3. Currently a 8th grader, a 6th grader and a 4th grader. Lori insists that when she was wrestling with the decision to home school, a gentle voice guided her with the words, “you know what you should do.” Never looking back, accepting the challenges and rewards and CONSTANTLY clinging to THE ROCK…”No Storm can shake my inmost calm when to this ROCK I’m clinging.” Lori hopes to impart peace and inspiration amidst the daily chaos. Be sure to visit her blog at All You Have to Give and at Internet Cafe Devotions.