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Hello again. I hope your new year has already been full of blessings! Mine has, and I’m giving God all the glory for that!

Last Week’s Work

MY PRAYER
For this study, the Spirit inspired me to pray:

Father God, thank You for the chance to re-explore this favorite chapter of mine with Your Holy Spirit. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand the treasure You’ll show me in this passage. I love You and I love Your Word! Help me use it to grow so others can see its treasure in my life. I ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

HUH? and WOW! MOMENTS
Next, I read Genesis 3, focused on my reactions, and noted what caught my attention. Here are most of the points I recorded:

HUH?s

• Did the serpent really think God had told the man and woman they couldn’t eat any fruit in the garden (v1)?
• Did God really tell them not to touch the fruit (v4)?
• They knew good through their experience of God. How did opening their eyes give them knowledge of evil (v5)?
• How did the woman see “the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (v6)?
• Did God really not know where the man was (v9)? But if He did know, why did He ask where they were?

WOW!s

• Verse 1 seems to imply God made the serpent, too.
• Maybe they could “not die” (v4). I know of two biblical men who didn’t: Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).
• The first thing they “knew” was their vulnerability (nakedness) (v7). And they immediately tried to overcome it on their own.
• Hiding from God seems to be an acknowledgement that their fig leaves weren’t enough to protect them (v8).
• The man was honest about his fear (v10).
• God wanted to know who changed their perception of their circumstances and whether they’d disobeyed Him (v11), though surely, He already knew they had.
• In verses 9-13, God doesn’t accuse, He asks questions.
• Serpent’s punishment: he became the lowest of all creatures, the woman and her offspring were above him (vv14-15).
• Woman’s punishment: she must perpetuate the species through childbearing (which will be painful); she’ll disagree with the man; but he’ll prevail (v16). And she will die. (v3).
• Man’s punishment: he had to provide their food (v18), and he will also die (v3).
• Animal(s) died when God made clothing from skins to cover their nakedness. Apparently, covering wasn’t necessary before they disobeyed (v21).
• Once they knew good and evil, God prevented them from eating from the tree of life (v22).

Even though I’ve studied this chapter before, the Spirit has shown me so much more this time! I can’t study it all, though. By next week, I know the He will help me figure out where to concentrate my attention.

Dig-In Challenges

If you’re studying the passage, too, listen to the Spirit this week, and choose a personal Huh? or Wow! to dig more deeply into. Going forward, I’ll refer to this as your personal treasure from Genesis 3. It can be something you noticed in your study, one of the items I’ve listed above, or anything else the Holy Spirit has laid upon your heart as you think about Genesis 3. Write this treasure in your study journal and note the verse(s) most relevant to it. As we study, we’ll consider everything in the chapter, but we’ll gradually narrow the focus to the relevant verse(s).

Then:

1. PRAY.
2. MINE: Dig into the facts recorded in Genesis 3. This week, we’ll focus specifically on the setting (who’s involved, and where and when the action took place). Note anything the Spirit emphasizes.

I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover with you next week!