I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be the first. I walk through the produce section and some of that stuff looks really strange. I wonder who it was who had the courage to eat it that first time.
Eve was first. Everything she did was a first.
She began at peace. At peace with everything around her. Creation. Her husband. And God. Imagine what that was like. She had everything she needed. Even the animals were her friends.
Then it all changed. She ate the fruit from the one tree God had set off-limits. She listened to the serpent’s lies—that it would make her wise.
Instead of wisdom, she got embarrassment, blame, hurt, grief and guilt. She would give anything to get a do over. To just go back in time and say “No!”
But faith was also one of her firsts. God had talked to Adam in the garden each night. It doesn’t say that she was with them. But she heard the curses—especially the one to the serpent:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Imagine that first pregnancy. Imagine watching her body change. Feeling the child move. And only Adam to help when the pain started. I wonder how they knew what to do during that first birth. There were no mid-wives or doctors to tell them what to expect or what to do.
But she was focused on the promise of a Savior—someone to crush the serpent’s head. When Cain was born she said:
“With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”
Cain was not the promised one. He went on to kill Abel, the son with faith. When Seth was born she chose a name that meant “restitution” because:
“God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Eve had a strong and simple faith in a Savior to come. I’m looking forward to meeting her one day!