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.”

Genesis 3:8-15

During my undergraduate studies, I had a professor who regularly told us, “if you want to know something, go back to the beginning.” He referenced the first three chapters of Genesis. He consistently showed us how so many answers are nestled in these first three chapters — created for relationship, choosing autonomy, promise of redemption.

Today, as I go back to the beginning, I see myself in these verses. The Lord is my shepherd and I have all that I need and yet I still look outside of his provision, in case he is holding out on me. I resort to blaming situations or people around me for my choices. He continually seeks me out, giving me opportunity for confession (where are you? what have you done?) and always with a plan for restoration.

Hostility still exists between humanity and the serpent. Take courage, though. While he may strike the heel which is a wound that weakens, Jesus struck his head which is a death blow.

Yes. I still need the Redeemer. Promised so long ago, appearing as a baby in a manger, dying triumphant over our enemy! Today, I celebrate his birth and look forward to his return!

Below I included a link to a short clip from the movie, “The Passion of Christ.” It depicts Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and Satan’s attempt to keep him from the cross. If you have not watched the movie, the clip is quite graphic and yet a powerful depiction of Jesus crushing the head of Satan.