Bad Girls of the Bible- Chapter 1 Bible Study

Welcome everyone!

I am so excited to start this Bible study.

Bible Verse Friday was great and I may go back to it someday, but lately I've been feeling that I need to be challenged.

I need to immerse myself more in the word.

I need to know more so that I can be more for God.

That being said I thought I would start by studying the women of the Bible.

If you picked up a copy of this book, fantastic!

This week we will cover Chapter 1.

If not, you can always get a copy later, or you can just read the scripture that I post and answer the questions accordingly.

I highly recommend this book, however, as Liz Curtis Higgs has a great way of re-creating each story from the Bible into a modern day tale.

Her ability to make it seem more relevant is the key to better applying it to your own life.

That being said, let's dive in!

Chapter 1: Eve

First let us recognize that Eve was the first woman.  

She was created by God to be Adam's helpmate.

On page 22 of our book we read, "Solitude is not good; man is created for sociability."  Even those of us who cherish our quiet moments alone get stir-crazy eventually....It's a God-given drive, this need to connect with other humans.

Adam was alone and God knew that it was not good.

Thus Eve was created.

Read Genesis 3:1-5

Let us focus on the serpent for a moment.  

In my version he is described as crafty, no not the knitting, sewing, modge podge-ing kind of crafty but the up to no good, mischievous kind of crafty.

Every word that came of his tongue was dripping with deception.

God never told Eve that she couldn't touch the tree, but only that she must not eat of it.

Here we learn an important lesson in committing HIS word to memory and to heart.  

When the serpent exaggerated God's Word he was able to trick Eve.

That's all it takes.

A simple small change in HIS word and we begin to question what we know to be true.

Now Eve allowed herself to be manipulated.

Then Adam tasted the fruit.

Inevitably we know what happens next.

Their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked, they hid.

Instead of taking responsibility for sinning they tried to hide it.

I wonder if things would have turned out differently if they had immediately cried out to God.

"Father, we have sinned against you.  We did just as you told us not to.  Please forgive us".

I wonder what God's reaction would have been.

Taking all that we know let's ponder a few questions.

-Eve wanted to be like God.  To know good from evil.

Read the following verses:

Isaiah 40:25-26 To whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal?  Says the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes & look to the heavens:  Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one & calls forth each of them by name.  Because of his great power & mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways:  declares the LORD.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways & my thoughts than your thoughts.

1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom & the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Obviously no one is equal to God.  No amount of eating fruit will make us more like God.  It is a lie from Satan to believe that is possible.  Yet far too often we fall into the trap of wanting to 'play God' or control all things.  Do you find yourselves wondering why everyone else is doing things the wrong way?  Why can't they do it my way?  What can you do to rebuke this desire to be in control?

I know I am guilty of this.  I have caught myself wondering why my husband cleans differently than I do, or why people drive a certain way, etc.  Unfortunately I don't always recognize that I am feeling this way right away.  However, when I feel this coming on the best thing I can do is remind myself that there is more than one way to get to the same destination.  If I am really struggling the best thing I can do is stop and ask God to help me relinquish control.

-Denial is another form of trying to hid our sins, even from ourselves.

Psalm 69:5 says You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.

This makes me think of how growing up my parents always knew when I was lying.

I was mystified!

Now that I am a mother, albeit of a 10 month old, I know how my parents knew.

They watched me grow up.

They knew my tells.

I see it in my daughter, precious as she may be, she still gets a look in her eye as she goes to do something I just stopped her from doing.

What have you been lying about?

To others, to yourself?

What lies have you been believing?

Have you ever tried to cover up the evidence of your sin?

Was it effective?

I have tried to cover up evidence of my sin many times, but one incident in particular outshines so many and actually makes me laugh when I think about it.

When I was a child we were about to move from Alabama to Georgia.

My brother and I shared a room, we had bunk beds and I was playing mountain climber.

I had tied a yarn ribbon around the top of the bed and I was trying to climb to the top without using the ladder.

Well the ribbon was meant to hold hair, not the weight of a small child and needless to say it broke and I fell.

My head hit the wall and when I pulled myself up I noticed a huge head shaped dent in the wall.

I pushed a box infront of it and rushed to my closet.

WHY did I rush to my closet?

I have no idea.

Maybe because I thought if I hid long enough and my parents didn't investigate we would be able to move out and no one would notice?!

The mind of a child.

Needless to say my parents found me and the hole in the wall.

All was forgiven, but like Adam and Eve, I rushed to hid from my sin.

-What is the most important lesson you have learned from Eve?

Taking into account the above story I just shared, this was the moral of the story I have concluded to:

I knew good and well I shouldn't try to climb my bed in such a matter, but I did it anyway.
The moral of the story is we can not hide from our sin, we must call it out by name, rebuke it and ask for forgiveness.

I hope you have enjoyed this time of study.

Please let me know if you would like to see something in particular in our discussions or if you have any questions.

I hope you have a Blessed Friday!