Tag: genesis 1:26-27

A Happy Ending: An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart

The LORD God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Different people love different kinds of stories. Some people love mysteries. Others want to read love stories or adventure stories or stories that have both! My son likes scary stories, while my daughter likes fantasy with magical adventures. No matter what kind of story you’re reading, however, there’s usually a part in most stories called the “black moment.”

The “black moment” is the part of the story when everything seems hopeless for the story’s hero. Every bad thing that could happen has happened, and there seems to be no way for things to get better. Everything feels lost.

Adam and Eve had a “black moment” in real life. God’s enemy, Satan, had come to them, looking like a snake, to test them to see if he could get them to betray God. After eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—the fruit God had commanded them not to eat—Adam and Eve seemed to be in a hopeless place. Everything felt lost after Adam sinned.

And for them, everything was lost.

They had become sinners, and all their children would be sinners as well. In betraying God, Adam and Eve had lost their friendship with Him. And because of Adam’s sin, the beautiful new earth God had made for them was now cursed as well. Likewise, women would now have great pain and difficulty having children and raising them. Life would be hard, and even their love for one another would be full of sin. And as if all that wasn’t bad enough, Adam had doomed all of humanity to death—both in body and soul. Humans would not only die, but their souls would go to Hell forever.

Everything seemed to be lost.

But God…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

Those special words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:4-5 ring out clearly like a bell in the night. Because God in His mercy chose not to let that be the end of Adam’s story. God did not leave Adam and Eve hopelessly lost in their sin forever.

Instead, God made a promise to raise up a Savior to save humans from their sins.

This Savior would defeat God’s enemy, Satan, even though Adam had failed. But it would come at a cost. He would crush Satan’s head, meaning He would destroy Satan once and for all—but Satan would inflict a deadly blow of his own in return.

If you’ve ever seen a venomous snake strike its prey, you know it’s fast and terrifying. The snake will lunge forward, its fangs full of venom, ready to bite its enemy. God promised in this verse that the Savior would surely crush the serpent (Satan)… but that the serpent would also hurt the Savior in return. And when it comes to venomous snakes, it doesn’t matter where a snake bites you. One venomous bite can kill you.

The bite of sin should have doomed us all in body and soul. But God, being full of mercy, sent His Son, Jesus, in our place to take our punishment for us. He sent Jesus to die for us, taking the bite of sin in our place.

But Jesus didn’t stay dead. Because Jesus is God. After Jesus’s death, God did what we could never have done. He crushed death itself by raising Jesus from the dead. Not even death could defeat God! And in destroying its finality—the forever nature of death—He made it possible for humans to defy death as well by resting in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Isn’t that amazing? To have victory over death, you don’t have to count your good works and hope you have enough. You don’t have to measure your faithfulness and hope it’s good enough. All you must do is turn away from your sins and rest in Jesus as your Savior.

Rest.

So as you lay down your head tonight, dear child, know that Satan and sin are defeated. Smile and rest.

Discussion Questions

1. Think of the “black moment” in one of your favorite books or movies, when everything seems to go wrong. Talk about it with your parents.

2. Did God have to save Adam and Eve or anyone else?

3. Will our story have a happy ending? How do we know?

This devotion is from the book, 31 Old Testament Devotions for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart, written by a mother for her children. If you would like this devotion in your home, you can order it here:

Ready for the next devotion? Find it here!

A Happy Ending: An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

When a woman has a baby in her belly, the people around her often like to guess what the baby will look like… or rather, who the baby will look like.

Will she have blue eyes like her daddy? Or will he have dark hair like his mommy? Will the twins have dark skin or light skin? Will she be short like her mother, or will he be tall like his father?

One thing we do know is that no matter who the baby looks like, God is the supreme Artist.

We often like to think about artists as people with paintbrushes or pencils or even cameras. But the first artist was God. And He is and always will be the greatest and ultimate Artist. Each baby He creates in a mother’s belly is a beautiful work of art. And unlike human artists, God doesn’t run out of ideas. He grows each baby as a new creation, gifted and unique in his or her own way.

Of course, this makes us wonder what God meant when He said in Genesis that He made man in His own image. After all, God doesn’t have a body. How can we be made in God’s image if He’s invisible?

When the Bible says that God made you in His image, it means that God made you like Him in that you have the abilities to think, understand, create, and—most importantly—love as God does.

Animals, of course, can love in their own ways. A dog might lick his master. A cat might snuggle her owner. Even some elephants and lions have affection for humans.

But none of them can love in the way God loves. Animals don’t know what it means to love someone like God loves them. They like to lick and play and cuddle, but their love is not deep like God’s. They don’t understand what it means to repent when we hurt others, or to forgive someone else’s sin. They don’t know what it means to tell the truth in love.

Even more importantly, as they are not made in God’s image, animals can’t know what great love God has for us, that He would send His only Son, Jesus, to live a sinless life for us, to die in our place, and to rise again from the dead. They cannot understand God’s mercy or grace.

Because humans are made in God’s image, each of us is special, each a one-of-a-kind work of art with special talents and a specific purpose in this world. So, as you lie down in bed tonight, think about how God crafted you with a special purpose. You were no accident, for you are a masterpiece made by the ultimate Creator and Artist—the God of love.

So sleep in peace tonight, child, knowing you were made with love.

Discussion Questions

1. Why are people even more special to God than animals or plants?

2. What are three things that people can do that animals can’t?

3. If someone insults us or calls us mean names, where should we look to remember how wonderfully we were made?

This devotion is from the book, 31 Old Testament Devotions for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart, written by a mother for her children. If you would like this devotion in your home, you can order it here:

Ready for the next devotion? Find it here!