Author: Bridget Turner

Reading this part of the story can be challenging. The consequences of Adam and Eve’s choices have an impact on all of us.

Growing up, I spent quite a bit of time helping my grandparents keep weeds and thorns out of their crops. That was hard work! My husband and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, and we both know that is a testament to the grace of God—because marriage is hard work. And as a mother, I can vouch that childbirth is painful. However, all that personal labor brings good benefits: nutritious food, a loving marriage, and beautiful children, respectively.

We know the rest of the story—and Jesus changes everything! John, in Revelation, tells us:
“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’” (Revelation 21:3–4)

As we wrap up this week’s story of Adam and Eve, please remember: when this world seems hard, God is close. He is ever-present, preparing to come for His bride. One day, He will return and make everything right. Sin will be no more, and our hope will be fulfilled.

Today we pick up the story of Adam and Eve right after Adam tells God that he was afraid because he was naked, so he hid. This is where the finger-pointing begins!

God asks Adam if he ate the forbidden fruit. Adam replies, “The woman you gave me—she gave me the fruit to eat.” God then asks Eve what she has done. She says, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate the fruit.” Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent.

God does not question the serpent but immediately places a curse on him, saying, “You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:14–15).

There are so many questions that come up from this story that we may never fully understand. Why didn’t God stop Adam and Eve from eating the fruit? Why place the fruit in the garden to begin with? Why allow the serpent near them at all?

This part of the story—and those questions—remind me of parenting. When our children were small, I would set them up in our den, a safe place for them to play. I didn’t go around and remove everything in the house that could harm them—I simply placed them in a setting where they could enjoy their freedom. Inevitably, one of them would get hurt.

Here’s what we do know about this story: God is good, and He loves His children. His plan has always been for us to live in relationship with Him. Nothing changes that. Eve and the serpent’s offspring will live in hostility—good versus evil. However, God also tells the serpent that he will receive a mortal wound to the head.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and His death on the cross won the battle for all of us.

God is working on our behalf all the time. Take time today to thank Him for His sacrifice and His daily protection over us.

Amy Seiffert, in her Bible Minute with Amy daily reel, recently talked about how laundry is her least favorite chore. Genesis says Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed—until they ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:25). Then they immediately covered themselves with fig leaves—the first laundry! Amy concludes that if you don’t like doing laundry, remember it’s because of the Fall, the original sin in the Garden of Eden. Good point!

Genesis 3:7 says, “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” The fig leaves provided a temporary solution for their shame. However, not only did they hide their bodies from each other—Scripture goes on to say they also hid from God among the trees. When God returned to the garden, Adam said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid” (Genesis 3:9–10).

God then asked him directly if they had eaten from the tree He commanded them not to eat from. That’s when the “blame game” begins, and God addresses the consequences of their sin. We’ll come back to that portion of Genesis 3 tomorrow.

Today, our focus is on Genesis 3:21: “And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” Ironically, Adam and Eve knew enough to try and cover their sin. They used fig leaves—a temporary, short-term solution. Thankfully, God is merciful and knows that sin requires death—a shedding of blood—to be covered.

Genesis 3:21 is the first time we see a sacrifice for sin in Scripture. Animals die to provide covering and restoration for Adam and Eve. This foreshadows what we just celebrated at Easter: Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected to restore humankind to Himself.

Today, take time to consider whether there is sin in your life that you’re trying to hide from God. Confess it to Him in prayer, and ask for the strength to repent and fully accept His mercy and forgiveness.

My son recently shared a story that occurred at his work. A 7-year-old boy came in for a baseball evaluation, hoping to get private lessons set up. While chatting with the young boy, my son put some equipment out and then left him in the batting cage to grab one last thing. When he returned, the boy told him all the equipment was broken.

My son was shocked. While he was gone, the boy had knocked over the batting tee and kicked the other equipment around the cage, indeed breaking a few things. While we had a good laugh about it that evening, I offered my son one piece of advice: no one has to teach us to be bad—it’s in our nature.

This is the consequence for all of us due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God and their eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Scripture says that after they ate the fruit, they immediately felt shame (Genesis 3:7). Sin. They could not undo it. They could not change it. They could not hide it.

Eve had described the fruit as good, delightful, and desirable. Yet, there was other fruit they could eat that was just as good. There was fruit that was delightful—offered in multiple colors, shapes, and tastes that would satisfy. No other fruit was off-limits. Unfortunately, they chose to believe the serpent’s lies, and their desire for the forbidden won out.

Every day we live, there are choices to be made. The pull of our flesh to be selfish and to do what we desire is strong. It takes intention to choose God’s best and not simply give in to ourselves. Lysa TerKeurst, in her book The Best Yes, says, “The one who obeys God’s instruction for today will develop a keen awareness of His direction for tomorrow.”

Let’s take time to pray like Paul did for the Colossians in our verses today. May we all have complete knowledge, spiritual wisdom, and understanding to make choices that produce good fruit for God’s kingdom—today, tomorrow, and the next day.

I love a good story. As a young child, I remember hearing the biblical stories of Creation, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Whale, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, and so many more. They captivated me and became the catalyst for my desire to know and accept Christ.

Our new sermon series, Greatest Hits, is all about digging a bit deeper into these stories—looking more closely at the details and seeing how God reveals Himself throughout the Bible.

This week, we start right at the beginning with Adam and Eve, and how sin entered creation through disobedience. What did God really say? Our verses today tell us that God instructed Adam to freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they ate that fruit, they would die. That seems fair and quite clear, so how does sin enter the picture?

The serpent twists God’s words. Genesis 3:1 says he speaks to the woman (Eve), “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” Eve’s response is mostly correct, but she adds a twist as well. Genesis 3:2–3 says, “The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.”’ God said nothing about touching the fruit, but Eve adds that caveat. It opens the door for the serpent to insinuate that God is withholding something good for selfish reasons.

In Genesis 3:5, the serpent continues, “In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He already knows that Adam and Eve were created in God’s image and given authority over him (Genesis 1:26–27). Unfortunately, Eve sets her eyes on the fruit and sees it as good, delightful, and desirable. She eats it and gives some to Adam. With that first bite, God’s gift—to keep them from understanding good and evil and from the consequences of sin and death—is lost forever.

Consider today how you can be 100% certain of what God says and avoid the deception of Satan. The best way to start is by reading God’s Word consistently. Charles Spurgeon says, “Draw from it your ammunition and armor. Make it your daily meat and drink, so you will be strong to resist the devil and joyful in discovering that he will flee.”

I am a fan of Peter’s. My small group has heard me say that Peter is my Bible boyfriend! My favorite thing about him is that he has done something no one else but Jesus has—Peter walked on water! (Matthew 14:28-30) That is amazing, but as we heard in our message this week, Peter also denied knowing Jesus—not just once, but three times. After the third time, Peter hears a rooster crow and remembers that Jesus had told him this would happen (Matthew 26:31-35). It is hard to imagine how disillusioned and discouraged Peter must have felt at that moment. Matthew 26 closes with Peter leaving the courtyard, weeping bitterly. He was devastated.

Thankfully, scripture gives us more of Peter’s story. In Acts 2, we find Peter preaching and sharing the Gospel. Verse 41 says, “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.” In Acts 3, Peter and John are going to the temple to pray. A lame man stops them and asks for money. Peter responds, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” They help the man get up, and he enters the temple with them, praising God. Peter performs a miracle—the first one recorded in scripture after Jesus’ ascension.

Yes, Peter sinned and denied Christ, but God still used him mightily. Like Peter, whatever has you disillusioned has not disqualified you from God’s kingdom. Ask God to give you the strength to stand firm in your faith and the courage to embrace His forgiveness and transform your life for His glory.

Praying scripture is one of the most powerful ways we can ask God to help us. David, another Bible hero, wrote Psalm 51 after he was caught in sin and disillusioned with himself. Take a little time today and pray these verses over yourself:

“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.”
—Psalm 51:10-13

A couple of months ago, I attended a conference where one of the speakers talked about Jonah’s story in the Bible. My mind immediately rattled off these few bullet points:

• God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and share the gospel.
• Jonah got on a boat headed in the opposite direction.
• A storm came up, and Jonah was thrown overboard.
• A big fish swallowed Jonah for three days and then spit him out.
• Jonah went to Nineveh, and the people believed God.

The speaker outlined many of the same points, and we all laughed at how we had probably remembered the same Sunday School lesson! However, there were two parts to Jonah’s story that we had not recalled.

First, Jonah 1:3 says, “Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.” The Lord had barely finished speaking, and Jonah decided to disobey. Secondly, the Lord sent a storm, and while everyone else panicked, Jonah slept. The scripture says, “Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep” (Jonah 1:5).

When we underestimate the deception of sin, we can forget who we know God to be. Jonah was a prophet and knew that God is omnipresent—everywhere, all the time. Yet Jonah tried to flee from Him. Further, no matter how comfortable we become in our sin, God’s desire for our redemption does not change: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Romans 3:23-24).

In our focus verses today, James reminds us that sin’s deception is a spiral that leads to death. If you find yourself caught up in sin that has disillusioned you, I pray that you would ask God for strength to pursue godliness and righteousness. And may you remember that He is a good Father, ever present, watching over you.

In a recent conversation with a young adult, they talked about taking a break from social media and setting boundaries for how they would return. When I asked why, their response surprised me. They admitted to mindlessly scrolling, wasting tons of time, and “losing brain cells.” The most surprising part was that they realized how much they had been buying products based on influencers’ recommendations—things they neither needed nor wanted, which are now being donated. As we parted, they shared some good news: they now have time to focus on the spiritual disciplines they have been learning about in their small group! The self-awareness and humility in their story are both refreshing and convicting.

My young friend was practicing what Paul encourages all of us to do in Romans. Being honest and using sober judgment to see ourselves as God sees us is key to avoiding disillusionment. Paul urges us not to be arrogant and to recognize our worth and abilities in light of God’s grace. He practices this humility and self-awareness in writing to Timothy, declaring himself the worst among sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul understood that any ability he had was a result of God’s grace, not his own merit.

Charles Spurgeon says of Paul’s declaration: “This godly sensitivity toward sin was associated in the apostle’s mind with an equally vivid sense of the freeness and richness of divine grace.” He adds, “The people who are most clear in their witness that salvation is by grace are also the people for whom sin is exceedingly sinful.”

Living with self-awareness and humility helps create a right view of who we are in Christ. Like my young friend, we will stop the mindless scrolling and empty purchases, making space for time with God, prayer, and serving others. Disillusionment with ourselves over sin will turn to repentance and living in the power of the cross and Christ’s forgiveness.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I am following The Bible Recap plan to read through the Bible chronologically this year. So far, the reading has included the story of creation, the Fall, and Job’s story. Already, I am noticing how humanity becomes disillusioned with itself.

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sin and hide from God. God comes to find them in the evening and asks, “Where are you?” Adam replies, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” (Genesis 3:10). Adam is disillusioned with himself because of his disobedience. Now, he fears God, his Creator, and feels shame over his physical body.

Job’s story spans 42 chapters, with the Lord describing Job to Satan as “…the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” (Job 1:8). Satan argues that Job only fears God because he is blessed. God then allows Satan to have authority over Job’s possessions and, eventually, his body—but not his life. Job experiences immeasurable loss and suffering, and his body becomes covered with boils to the point of being barely recognizable. Throughout all of Satan’s attacks, we read that Job does not sin (Job 1:22, 2:10).

In Chapter 3, Job’s disillusionment begins as he curses the day he was born and engages in a long discourse with three friends. Eventually, they grow tired of the back-and-forth and leave Job. A younger man, Elihu, arrives and becomes angry because Job justified himself rather than God. Elihu delivers another lengthy speech, after which the Lord Himself replies and reminds Job of who He is. Job responds to God, “I know you can do anything, and no one can stop you.” (Job 42:2).

Job forgot who God is and assumed his life was not valuable. God reminds him that He is the Creator, Sovereign, and Omnipotent. That truth did not change just because Job’s life was in turmoil. In the end, God restores Job’s life, family, and possessions—greater than before.

My prayer for us today is that, whether our disillusionment stems from disobedience or God’s allowance, we remember who God is and that His love endures forever.

Like me, you may be wondering what it means to be disillusioned with yourself. Merriam-Webster defines “disillusioned” as “having lost faith or trust in something formerly regarded as good or valuable; the condition of being dissatisfied or defeated in expectation or hope.”

We have just turned the page and started a brand-new year: 2025. Many of us resolved to do something—eat better, exercise more, limit screen time, or read through the Bible. At some point, I have made resolutions to do all those things, only to quit before the end of January! Year after year, the disillusionment with myself is palpable as disappointment sets in and my hope of staying the course is lost. Those resolutions are all good and helpful things, so why couldn’t I do it? One thing I know is that I started each of those decisions totally depending on myself to succeed, with motives that were self-centered. However, this year, 2025, I challenged myself a bit differently.

The Bible Recap is a resource I often refer to when studying the Bible or writing devotionals. It is a yearly Bible reading plan that follows the Word chronologically. The creator, Tara-Leigh Cobble, also provides a brief recap of each day’s reading. Several friends followed the plan in 2024, and admittedly, I was jealous when they posted a celebratory graphic on social media on the last day of the year saying, “Congratulations from The Bible Recap for successfully completing the plan.” It was frustrating that another year had passed and I had yet to read the Bible through from beginning to end. My attitude began to improve, though, as so many of them posted their excitement to start again on January 1, 2025!

Sunday’s message reminded us that we need to admit where we need help to overcome our disillusionment. That is exactly what I did as I determined to begin The Bible Recap plan myself. I asked a couple of friends to hold me accountable, and they not only agreed but also joined me on the plan. Twenty days in, and we are going strong!

I am praying that you know it is never too late to make a change, to start over, or to forgive yourself. Start by asking God to help you, and then gather some friends who will encourage, support, and pray for you.