He Said It

Genesis 3 cont’d:

Now we hear the woman’s punishment, severe and decisive:

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

God is not mean.  He never is, when he disciplines.  A parent is not mean when a child disobeys a directive and the child is disciplined.  In fact, without discipline children will perish.

Women will experience pain in childbirth and because of the sin, the men in her life won’t rule with wisdom and love but rather it will be tainted with power and abuse.

Ugh.

Doesn’t that explain the world today?

But thanks be to Jesus who makes all things new and gives us marriages that mimic his relationship with the Body, that of laying down and serving.  And thanks be to God for the beauty of the child that appears after the pain.

God is always about redemption.  He disciplines those he loves, but it’s always a discipline that leads to life…if we heed it and accept it and repent.