Adam and Eve – Me From the Inside Out

Bible study, Devotion, From the Beginning to Forever, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study

Marred by Sin

Posted on September 30, 2025September 30, 2025 by

based on the LGG Bible Study, From the Beginning to Forever/w1d3

Friends, I realize that this passage is not only familiar but long. However, it is a beautiful part of the Love Story that God has written for us. Pray for fresh eyes, an open mind, and yielded heart to the characters, the good – the bad – and the ugly. Study the enemy’s ways so that they do not trip you up – because he is still prowling around like a lion, looking for someone to devour. Let yourself imagine the innocence and true joy of those first days before sin entered the picture, then choose to look forward with hope to the eternity that awaits us – because Christ triumphed over the grave, not only striking the head of the enemy but securing his doom!

The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him …
A Mighty Fortress is Our God/Martin Luther

Read: Genesis 3:1-15; SOAP: verse 15 (for further reading – Gen 3:16-21)

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

²“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. ³“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

⁴“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ⁵“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

⁶The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. ⁷At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

⁸When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. ⁹Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

¹¹“Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

¹⁴Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed
    more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
    groveling in the dust as long as you live.
¹⁵And 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.¹”
Genesis 3:1-15 NLT or (KJV)

What a story this portion of our journey tells. We meet a talking serpent, believed by most commentators to be Satan.² We get a first hand look at his cunning and deceptive ways to steal, kill and destroy God’s people/creation. We see not only the first temptation but the subsequent sins of Eve and Adam. Sin that brought death to the life they had enjoyed. Their innocent, beautiful lives and relationships with each other and with God, were marred by sin and turned upside down. The couple that once knew no shame or fear were now hiding themselves from God because as Adam told God, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” We also see the first blame shifting as Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. We also witness the first consequences of sin first hand as God confronts each of the guilty parties.

He said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,and in pain you will give birth.And you will desire to control your husband,but he will rule over you.”

To Adam, God said: “The ground is cursed because of you.All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.”

To the serpent He said, “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.”

The bottom line of God’s curse on Satan is this: He has been the enemy of humanity since the beginning. He can never be trusted. As Peter wrote, he continues to hunt and seek to devour humans to this very day (1 Peter 5:8), but the good news is he won’t be allowed to do so forever.
Bibleref.com

You see, God made a way where there seemed to be no way. So even though Satan would damage Christ³ and it would look like the cross and grave had the final say, the ultimate victory belongs to Christ on behalf of humanity; and those of us who are in Christ will celebrate the victory with Him for eternity!

Several songs come to mind here as I close out today’s journey: Up from the grave He arose, Victory in Jesus, and Mighty Warrior (aka: Satan has no authority here!) May our hearts rejoice and sing at the good news of the Gospel story From the Beginning to Forever!

The More We Know

Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study

Image Bearers

Posted on September 29, 2025September 30, 2025 by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, From the Beginning to Forever/w1d2

Read: Genesis 2:4-17; SOAP: Genesis 1:26-27 – KJV

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁷So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 NLT

Made in God’s Image

This verse is breathtaking in its implications and puzzling in the questions it raises.
bibleref.com

Among other questions that it raises, it begs us to explore what it means to be made in the likeness or image of God. As bibleref.com points out: “This statement does not mean that God created humans to resemble Him physically.” John 4:24 makes it clear that God is a Spirit, or as bibleref.com goes on to clarify: “He is not simply a more complex physical being, or a limited creature … restricted to seeing, hearing, or being in a single location, like the false gods of most religions.” In other words, we do not physically look like God, but “we do possess God’s capacity to experience and understand love, truth, and beauty.” Because we share this capacity, He has called us to be His representatives here on earth. We are to share His truth with ‘the world’ (Matthew 28:19-20) and we are to love others just as Jesus (our role model) has loved us (John 13:34). Actually, as Paul taught the Colossians, “whatever we do and say, we are to do as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. In other words, we are not just to be His representative, we are to represent Him so well that others will see Jesus in us and be drawn to the Father.

As human beings, this side of sin, when we contemplate our “image,” we may not feel as carefree and natural as our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Instead, we may balk at the idea that it is made after the “likeness of God, because unlike Adam and Eve, we were born with sinful natures, inherited from Adam after the fall (Rom. 5:12; Prov 22:15; Ps 51:5 and 58:3). Sin marred the innocence that Adam and Eve knew “in the beginning.” Before the fall, Adam and Eve had no insecurities or shame and did not know any evil. As Bibleref.com explains, “Their lack of shame was not due to ignorance: it was due to innocence.” The commentary explains, “As chapter 3 will make clear, the shame we feel over being naked is tied to an awareness of one’s own sinfulness and rebellion.” Now, only when we are made new in Christ¹ (born again) is the old sinful nature (that came to us through Adam) traded for the new nature of Christ’s Spirit, who lives in us and was given to us by God.² So that we no longer have to live under the power of sin.³ You see, God made a way where there was no way! Though we were once slaves to sin, we are now, through faith in Christ, sons and daughters of the living God. He has legally adopted us through Christ and has given us the Spirit of adoption, allowing us to live in a relationship with Him – free from the chains of the old nature.

Wonder and Awe

²¹So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. ²²Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

²³“At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”
Genesis 2;18-23

From the first ‘sighting’ of the Trinity (1:26) to the first ‘surgery’ by the Great Physician (Genesis 2:18-23), this passage is filled with God’s wonder and leaves me standing in awe of His power and creativity, and praising Him for creating me in His image. Friends, may we never forget that we are made in the image of God so that we might have a relationship with Him and reflect His character to those around us – that He might be made known through us and receive glory, honor, and praise. Oh, that He might continue to work within us through the power of His Holy Spirit so that we do not live by the old nature but faithfully by our new nature through Christ and His Spirit in us.

The More We Know

Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living In Community, Not Made to Be Alone, Quiet Time

Not Made to Be Alone

Posted on May 7, 2023May 7, 2023 by

An Love God Greatly Study / Week 2 – Day 1

Today’s Reading: Genesis 2:18-24 / Soap: Genesis 2:18

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
Genesis 2:18

Today’s passage,“It is not good for the man to be alone“, is clearly the basis or the “poster verse” of our study. Day after day God pronounced what He had done as good but here He says: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God wasn’t simply speaking things into creation and moving along, He was clearly paying attention to the day-to-day details of what He was creating. His creation was important to Him and He made right what was wrong.

While verse 18 is our focus/soap verse – it is good to read the entire passage to understand the detailed attention God gave to the situation. He tailor-made Eve for Adam, so that she would correspond specifically to him. Don’t miss the last words of the passage, “and they became a family.” This adds the second dimension to our community – first God, then family.

A Perfect Fit

Whether God saw that man was lonely or needed help or simply someone to talk to, God noticed something wasn’t right – and He made it right. Clearly, according to how God remedied the situation – man needed someone more like himself, someone who corresponded with him.

God Provides What His Children Need

I love knowing that as a believer I can trust God to see/know when something isn’t right and to take care of it in the way that is best for me. I can trust that :

He cares for me …
- 1 Peter 5:7 / Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.
He wants what is best for me …
- Jeremiah 29:11 / For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.
He can and will do what it takes to make things right – as clearly seen in the Scriptures:
- John 3:16 /For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
- Genesis 2:18 / The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
- John 17: 3-4 / Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
- John 19:30 / When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
- Luke 24:1-12 / But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” ⁹After he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud hid him from their sight. ¹⁰As they were still staring into the sky while he was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood near them ¹¹and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
- Romans 8:34 /... Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.
- John 14:1-4 / “Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. And you know the way where I am going.”

Response to God’s Word

Father-God You are so good! As You did with Adam in the beginning You do with us now – You see and know when something isn’t right and You – in love, power, grace and mercy – make it right. There is no greater evidence of this than You sending Jesus to save us from our sins. From Adam’s flesh you created Eve because it was not good for man to be alone; and from a virgin You brought forth Your only begotten Son – a Savior -because sin had separated us from You, and You knew this was not good. So in unfathomable love and great power and amazing grace You made a companion who corresponds with us and one who now resides with us who have believed. Through Jesus we have been made right with You and now we are never alone. All praise and glory to You, in His name I pray and trust – Amen and amen!

Don’t forget the Monday, Wednesday, Friday blog posts from the LGG Team. They offer awesome insight and will enrich your time in the Word – just follow this link … https://lovegodgreatly.com/lgg-blog/