When we tune into the news, hoping for a message that renews our hope in life, we often encounter something that terrorizes and terrifies us instead. Unless we deceive ourselves, everything we hear and see indicates that the world is heading towards destruction. Everyone, including us, is moving towards death, even the sweet baby we hold in our hands. The story of everything and everyone seems to be one of tragedy and death.

We might ask, “Why? Why is life like this?”

We find answers to our questions in the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis in the Bible. The crisis of this life and this universe began in the Garden of Eden, the home of the first man and woman created by God. These two individuals rebelled and sinned against God, their Creator and the Maker of the universe.

In our last post, we saw how Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit that He had commanded them not to eat. When God confronted them with their sin, they both defended their innocence by shifting the blame to others instead of taking responsibility themselves.

Consequently, God cursed them, beginning with the primary culprit of this evil deed, the serpent, like this: –

“Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all the livestock, and more than any animal of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life; and I will make enemies Of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall deliver children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Then to Adam He said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; with hard labor you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; yet you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””  Genesis 3:14-19 NASB

In our previous discussion, we explored how God was the first to preach the Gospel when He cursed the serpent saying:

“I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15 NASB

In this post, we will examine in more detail how God cursed the woman.

Here again is how God cursed Eve:

“I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall deliver children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Genesis 3:16 NASB

This same verse in the Hebrew Bible reads as follows:

“I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children.”

John MacArthur, the author of numerous excellent books such as “The Gospel According to Jesus” and “Twelve Ordinary Men,” comments on the above Hebrew Bible verse as follows:

God pretty much says to Eve, “I’m going to give you multiplied pain connected with multiplied conception.” (Taken from one of MacArthur’s sermons title, “The Curse on the Woman, Part 1” – June 11, 2000)

Wow! Do you see that?

The curse strikes directly at the core of Eve’s life.

God created Eve as a “suitable helper” for Adam. After creating Adam and Eve, God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” He then established the institution of marriage, where Adam and Eve became one. Thus, sexual intimacy and procreation were established before Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. Even after the fall, we don’t see God making any changes to these aspects of their relationship. Therefore, we can safely conclude that Eve was created with the potential to relate to her husband, Adam, and to give birth to their children.

The first task God assigned to Adam after creating him was to work in the Garden of Eden, taking care of it (Genesis 2:15). Adam finds joy and meaning in his work, while Eve finds joy and meaning in her relationship with her husband and their children.

If we observe closely, the curse God placed on each of them targets precisely where they each find joy, purpose, and meaning in life.

Let’s take a closer look at Eve’s curse:

“I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall deliver children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Genesis 3:16 NASB

Eve was cursed with multiple pains in childbearing, frequent pregnancies, and increased pain in raising her children. Pregnancy itself is long and arduous (nine months), and giving birth is known to be the most intense pain (labor pain) humans (specifically women) experience on this side of heaven. The risk of dying from pregnancy and childbirth is high. A woman continues to give birth until she reaches menopause or until she dies.

According to ChatGPT, contraception was introduced into human life in the 1950s. Today, women in many developing and poor countries still lack access to birth control pills. Additionally, some religions prohibit the use of contraception.

What does this mean?

It means that when the husband wants sex, he gets it, and the rest is left for the wife to deal with. Even a kind and spiritual man who fears God cannot share his wife’s pregnancy, labor pain, or the inherent risks of being a woman. It is solely her burden.

Even with contraception, women suffer in multiple ways in their marriages and motherhood. Today, young girls are encouraged to be sexually active and use birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. If these methods fail and pregnancy occurs, they are often encouraged to kill the baby immediately. The “Morning After Pill,” for instance, is a quick and effective way to destroy the baby’s life (a fertilized egg) right in the womb.

Is a woman’s life improving with all these methods? Is she enjoying life to the fullest now because she uses Morning After Pill? Is it even possible to free woman from the curse that fell upon her?

Today, more babies die than 100 years ago, with abortion claiming the lives of millions. By killing her own babies in her womb, is a woman today happier and healthier than a century ago? Is there any technology that can fertilize an egg in a tube, raise the child there in a tube, and present the child to his mother at the age 18 to free her from the hardships of motherhood? Even if such technology existed, would a woman be completely and fully happy with it? Women who struggle with infertility are willing to endure any pain and suffering to experience pregnancy and childbirth because being a woman often comes with a strong desire to get married and have children. The inability to do so causes heartbreak, suffering, and pain for countless women. Both women with children and those unable to have children suffer.

Why? Why? Why?

Because of the curse!

God is the Judge. He passed His sentence and placed this curse on the woman, striking precisely where she finds her God-given beautiful life as a wife and mother.

Even as a mother living in a developed country, I can testify that womanhood, being a wife and a mother is not easy at all. Did God originally intend it to be this way? Oh, no! Remember, God is good, and everything He created was good until sin entered our universe. Eve ate the forbidden fruit, believing the serpent’s lie that she could find more satisfaction, joy, pleasure, and fulfillment from what “God was hiding from her” (as the serpent presented it). She ate the fruit to be like God and maximize her happiness and pleasure. What did she get instead?

The two areas of her life where she was rightfully entitled by God to experience all joy, fulfillment, pleasure, meaning, and purpose were cursed, leaving her with pain and sorrow . . . cont’d ///