[The man] answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.”

Devotion based on Genesis 3:10-14

Adam’s sin was not just in passing blame but in not taking responsibility, as he should have, since God shows the order of his creation by going to Adam first. Adam’s sin was not only shirking his responsibility, but also in finally passing off the blame for the sin—not to his wife (“the woman…”) but to God himself (“…you put here with me”).

Martin Luther said, “This is the nature of sin: unless God immediately provides a cure and calls the sinner back, he flees endlessly from God and, by excusing his sin with lies, heaps sin upon sin until he arrives at blasphemy and despair.”

Like her husband, Eve also shirked responsibility for sin. She passed blame off to the serpent (the devil). God punished both the serpent and the devil. The animal was transformed by God to serve as a constant reminder to mankind of Satan’s ultimate defeat.

Although Satan had won a victory by deceiving Adam and Eve to sin and dragged the whole world under the curse of sin, God would ultimately defeat the devil’s power and free mankind from the hold of death. All this would be accomplished through a mighty Savior. He’s Jesus, through whom we have the peace of God’s forgiveness and the joy of life with God forever.

Prayer: