Day 142: Bad Girls

Tonight was my bad girls' club.  We are studying the Bad Girls of the Bible. We read the first two chapters.


Chapter one is all about Eve, the original bad girl.  Honestly, I have never really had any connection to Eve before. What Liz Curtis Higgs does, she starts us with a fictional rendition of the same old story we've heard so many times before.  Liz displayed Eve as an innocent young girl who has always done exactly what her Daddy asked of her.  She has never strayed from the choices He has given her because it's never really crossed her mind.  There are so many other things to attend to, who cares about that one little thing that Daddy said not to do anyway?


Then this sly, sneaky, "gentleman" appears and causes her to question.  He twists her words and her Daddy's words. Next thing she knows, she's so confused about what's going on that she's stopped thinking on her own and just following along.  She takes what is offered, and to add to her sin, she offers it to Adam.


Having grown up rather sheltered in a very small Christian town, attending church every Sunday and behaving, in general, in the way that I was expected to behave, this version of the story resonated a bit more with me than the original.  We talked about various aspects of the story and we picked apart all of Eve's mistakes.  Then we got to Adam.


In the Bible it says simply that Eve " . . .gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."  Genesis 3:6.  It doesn't state that he discussed it or questioned, but just that he took it and he ate it.  This made me think of a discussion I just had with Dan.


Dan and I are both trying to watch our budget and spend less money on dumb things.  One of us is trying to eat more healthy foods, and trying to convince the other of what a great idea this is.  We tend to be each others' greatest weakness.  I can go all day without spending money on fast food or my coffees and think what a great job I'm doing.  I can tell the kids, nope, no McDonald's.  Then Dan gets off work.  He says, "Hey, let's hit McD's for a soda and a McDouble."  And I say, OK.  It works both ways.  Adam did it then, and we still do it now.  Now that we've had the chat, we are working together more than we were before and we have done very well.  It's only been a couple days, but, hey . . . baby steps.  :) 

We also talked about blame.  When God spoke to Adam and Eve about what they had done, "the man said, 'The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."  Genesis 3:12.  In one simple sentence, Adam blamed both Eve and even God for his mistake.   I had never looked at it this way and thought, Wow!  To blame God even?  I can't even imagine doing that!  And then Liz hit me again.  "It's your fault, Lord.  You made me this way!"  Now that little thought is one that I may not have tried out word for word, but it was close enough!  I've thought, "But God knows that this is hard for me," or "God knows that I try and He understands."  Those are some pretty lame excuses.  I hadn't really looked at it from that perspective before.  That Liz is one smart chic . . .


And thank God that He inspired Liz for this last little sentence.  I am going to write this on a sticky note and put it on my mirror to see first thing in the morning. And on my fridge to see before I have a poorly chosen snack.  


"God gave us His Spirit to empower us, His Word to strengthen us, and His Son to catch us when we fall."  


Even though we are weak enough that we still make some pretty dumb choices, in the long run, how can we fail with backup like that?