Three Sixteen - Genesis

Genesis 3:16
"To the woman He said,
'I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.'"


Genesis is a book of beginnings.

The creation of our earthly home, and the beginning of plant, animal and human life
took God only 6 days to complete. At the Word of God the stars were stretched across the heavens, and the planets set in their orbits, majestic trees covered the rolling hills and the tiniest flower appeared and pointed it's face to the warming sun. Oceans were filled with incredible beauty, teaming with life that would be seen more by
God than by people, but that would also perform a vital part in the health and life of the whole planet.

The beginning of mankind's relationship with our Heavenly Father; walks in the garden in the cool of the evening, the delights of exploring the beauties of the earth under His watchful eye, hearing the melodious sound of His voice filled with love for his little ones, all ended with the disastrous decision not to trust God's word, but to listen to the beguiling enemy. Innocence was replaced by guilt and passing blame. Holy companionship gave way to cold loneliness, and a God shaped hole in the human heart that is longing to be filled.

Two institutions meant to bring great blessing get their start in Genesis: the Sabbath and marriage. The Sabbath would give us a chance to fellowship with our Maker apart from the work and worry of the world. It was to be a time to relieve the loneliness of separation from the Giver of Life. A time for renewal through communion, and comfort in each other's company as we worship our Maker together.

Marriage would allow us to complement each other, two halves of a whole, to experience love, commitment and other-centeredness. To raise our children, and demonstrate in the family the love relationship God intended for us to have with Him.

With the first sin the partnership with which man and wife were blessed was marred, and the submission of the wife to the husband began. Unselfish love was replaced with laying the blame on each other and on God.

'Yet', says God, 'your desire shall be for your husband'. The tie would not be entirely broken; the blessings of marriage could still be theirs. With God justice is mixed with the blessing of mercy.
"In pain you will bring forth children". One might think this verse referred only to the physical pain of labor and delivery. I'm sure it does in part, but the greater pain must be learning that your precious son, your first born, in whom you had placed your hopes of redemption, had killed his younger brother in a fit of jealous rage. The pain of his banishment and estrangement, and his heart hardened against God, would be more pain than a person knew could exist. Countless parents can relate to the pain Adam and Eve went through, knowing their own rebellion and disobedience caused the loss of their child, such loss for the child of the promise that would never be realized.

The pain is not ours alone. Perhaps this verse shows more than anything else the pain that God feels at our separation from Him. The pain we experience, He feels. We may suffer the loss of one or even 10 as Job did, but God has had to suffer the loss of multiplied millions over many thousands of years. No human heart could survive such pain, but God took it to another level, an unimaginable level. He suffered the pain of His own Son's birth into this world knowing He must give His own life in order to redeem us, win us back to Himself, and win the right to bring us back into communion with Him.
He suffers pain every time one of his created ones passes into eternity without accepting the salvation that sacrifice paid for. He suffers pain when we needlessly suffer not allowing Him or even asking Him to help us. He feels all our pain and sees our tears.

2 Kings 20:5 "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears;"

Psalm 56:8 “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; [Are they] not in Your book?”

Isaiah 25:12 “And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken."

Such were our beginnings, some glorious, some devastating. They leave us longing for

the new beginning where there will be no pain, no sin, no death, no further separation

from God who is our life