Project Description

2013/03

A Word To Women

You don’t have to be a Latin student to have heard the words that Julius Caesar reportedly wrote in his memoirs on going to war in Zela, Turkey, “Veni! Vidi! Vici!” – ‘I came! I saw! I conquered!’ Since then there have been many variations of this phrase in music, art and literature. One such is attributed to King Jan III of Poland after the 17th-century Battle of Vienna, “Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” – ‘We come, We see, God conquers’.   

If we consider the first woman, Eve, we could say “She came!  She saw!  She disobeyed!”.  Eve had every privilege possible at creation.  Not just the first woman, she was also the first wife and the first mother in the Bible.  She was created in perfection for a perfect husband and placed in a perfect environment with everything necessary for survival.  Better still, God the Creator was her friend and companion in the beautiful Garden of Eden.  She could speak with Him face to face, without shame or guilt.  Life, indeed, was paradise for Eve!  But, sadly, not for long.  God’s arch enemy, Satan, knew that if he was to succeed in destroying this perfection that God had made, he would have to be subtle, devious and cunning.

In her innocence, Eve, was none of these things. She didn’t have the foresight to understand that such characteristics could exist and so she believed whatever Satan told her.  But God knew what Satan was capable of, and this is exactly why He gave Adam and Eve the instructions about ‘all’ the trees they could eat from, and about the ‘one’ they couldn’t.  Even though Eve was deceived about the consequences of trusting Satan’s promises (“Ye shall not surely die”, Genesis 3:4), she did know that the only one she should take instruction from was the Lord Himself.  But she came into the Garden of Eden, she “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes” and “she took…and did eat” (Genesis 3:6).  She came!  She saw!  She disobeyed!

Satan knows how to attack us at our weak points.  He knew that with Eve it was her desire for nice things, those things which looked nice and seemed to hold wonderful promises (“a tree to be desired to make one wise”, Genesis 3:6).  ‘God has said “No” – but surely just a bite of this fruit won’t be that harmful!’  

God has His reasons when he says “No” to something, just as we do when a small child, seeing a sweet shop, makes a dart across a busy road to get to it.  We shout “No!” – we rebuke him – why? Because we don’t want him to have sweets?  Of course not. It’s because we can foresee the dangers that he can’t see, and we are trying to warn him and keep him safe.

Dear friend, please know that God has given us His Word for our good, to warn us of the consequences of disobedience (see 2 Timothy 3:16).  He does not set out to stop us enjoying life; indeed, He wants us to enjoy it fully, in holy obedience to Him.  Be thankful that He cares enough to warn us!

Karen Murray