Throughout our People in the Old Testament reading plan, we have compiled selections from both our She Reads Truth and He Reads Truth writers. The same devotionals can be found on the She Reads Truth and He Reads Truth apps and websites for the entirety of this reading plan.
Is there any couple more famous than Adam and Eve? Their story is woven into our culture and history. We tell it to children to explain everything—from why we wear clothes to why people die. Yet in a story with a talking serpent and supernatural trees, Adam and Eve’s story still endures because in them, we see something true about the beauty and complexity of being human.
When I was a child, I learned to see this story as the tale of how things got so broken. Adam and Eve are removed from me and easy to blame. But the truest thing about them is who they reflected from the start. “So God created man in his own image…he created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27).
To be made in God’s image is a mystery, but I imagine it means that, at our best, we are a reflection of His goodness and truth. In Adam and Eve we see glimpses of God’s delight, creativity, and care as they cultivated and watched over Eden. They weren’t just empty creations but friends of God and chosen caretakers for a beautiful world.
Until…well, we know the rest of the story. “The woman…took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked” (Genesis 3:6–7).
The story of the fall is unsettling to read and opens more questions than it gives answers. We try to explain it away with theology or heap blame on Eve or Adam or both. We may even feel bold enough to wonder if God was overreacting.
But all of Scripture tells us that God is good, kind, and merciful. If we believe this is the core of God’s character, how does the story change?
When God approached them during His evening walk, they were hiding, shivering and scared, wrapped in leaves. It never occurred to them to be scared of their friend. God came to them with questions. “Where are you?” “What have you done?” (Genesis 3:9,13).
I used to imagine these as angry questions, but now I hear a tender grief. His children had grown. Their eyes were opened to harsh reality. I wonder if God would’ve loved one more day to walk in the garden with them. I used to imagine God kicking them out and slamming the door. Now I see that God was gently preparing them for the journey with the parting gift of clothing for their shame.
Every story has a moment where the world is turned upside down, including the story of humanity. But we know God was not abandoning His people forever. The first steps out of the garden were into a future of heartache, joy, and everything in between.
I imagine they had barely set foot on the road before God was planning a way to meet them again.
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103 thoughts on "Adam and Eve"
I liked one commenter noting God’s sorrow that He could no longer walk with his friends in the garden. How much they too must have missed him. Armed now only with their egos and limited knowledge of good and evil, they were sent out. But the echo of friendship with God must have haunted them. And I see that in the human story – the ache passed down, so that we live so many years trying to find something, anything, to be that god for us. It is such a wonderful story about how the God shaped hole started for all of us.
I’m late joining too! I will try to catch up.
I’m late to starting here but I am here! 1) I never thought to think of it as “tender grief” but I thought of it as anger. The point you made about God always being forgiving made me reread some verses with a different view point and so did that change everything. He did want them to be prepared for their new life but also gave them consequences for their actions. Were they possibly harsh? Yes. But how else would they learn? I guess that’s my viewpoint/take away from that.
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I find this hard to get my head around. Did God know they would disobey him? God knows all things but I can’t help but think after things went pear shaped in the garden of Eden God decided he needed to plan it ALL out and that he had to let his children have free will so they could willingly follow him.
I wonder at what point God decided thousands of years later he would bring me into the world and what life he would give me.
That is a crazy perspective when you draw your own life back to the creation of Adam and Eve! Wow
I can’t help but wonder……why?
“I imagined they had barely set foot on the road before God was planning a way to meet them again.”
SO GOOD. I’ve read the story of Adam & Eve so many times and yet, never viewed it as beautiful and loving as I did this morning. I always thought it was a wrath from God, but perhaps the author is right…maybe it was like a sigh of disappointment and sadness just like we sometimes give our children because we realize that why they must make their own choices in this life, we become deeply saddened when we see them choose the wrong one. God is so loving! Never changing! Alpha & Omega!
Oh, Hannah Little, thank you for your devotional on Hagar today. I love the word picture of not putting a bow on it. How many times have I done just that with Hagar’s story? God’s compassion and His mercy on Hagar encourage me. He sees us and knows our names. His presence is enough to sustain me through all of life’s struggles and disappointments. I’m so thankful I don’t have to go through this life without Him. Praying for all the needs here. Have a wonderful day, ladies.
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God must have felt such grief to have been separated from us in that way. This has brought such a fresh perspective to me. I too read those passages as angry growing up, but now I see that’s not it at all.
Now that I have a new perspective this story made me sad. I know how heartbreaking it is as a parent to have to let our children learn life’s lessons. We do all we can to prepare them and cushion their falls but at the end of the day we have to let go. But we let them know they can always come home. God spent the next couple thousand years working on their way home which culminated in the birth and eventual death of his beloved Son! Wow!
The lessons included in this reading brought about some new perspectives! It was truly interesting to take a step back and look at this story through different perspectives, it brought about different understanding and knowledge! Absolutely loved the readings today!
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My child and how it hurts me but I have to show her right from wrong. Her disobedience is also hurtful. God too loves us so much that He is saddened and hurts when we disobey and must face our consequences. But God also loves us so greatly that when we repent He cleanses us so purely and wipes us clean. Thank you Jesus!
Thankful for God’s Grace! I image God saddened and hurt He can no longer walk side by side His friends. I think of myself punishing
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What was highlighted to me today was Genesis 3:4-6 “… and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.” How often do we not take God at His Word, and have to learn the hard way when it’s too late? We choose to step out in sin, believing we will gain and feel we need to know what is on the forbidden side. We desire to be like God and know everything… yet knowledge multiplies sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:18)- trusting God is our protection. We were not designed to know and understand everything – mysteries belong to our God, He alone is the Holder of mysteries♥️
I agree
Yes!! That same thing smacked me in the face as I read it! I’d never really noticed that before.
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I always get caught up in the grief, but Jen’s final line….that really touched my heart. To be reminded that this was not the end, but that God’s plan had already started. Thank you God for always going ahead, please give me strength to be steadfast in faith and follow you to the end of my days.
Hello Shes
I am exuberant!! Shaking off the gloom! The start of this study. His/Her/Our story. God! Adam! Eve! And the talented writer Jen Yokel speaking to us!
And as Joni Mitchell sings in “Woodstock”…”We are stardust. We are golden. And we have to find our way back to the Garden.”
Thus begins our wildly, terribly, wonderfully, tremendously beautiful journey of wandering & wondering.
But He waits for us. His Son will guide us.
AND hugs to the Shes last week who helped coax me, through unhesitant prayer, away from the chaos of the depression. Another demonstration of solidarity in the SRT community. We who believe can’t help but hold one another upright!
Grace upon Grace.
(HEART) :)
I know Eve eating of the fruit is “the fall”, but Eve says before this that God says “cannot eat or touch it”. It seems she’s added to His word BEFORE she took the fruit. Splitting hairs, possibly, but haven’t seen any scripture that mentions this otherwise. Curious on your thoughts.
in my reading, God’s warning to not eat of the tree was given to Adam before Eve was created, so perhaps Adam enhanced the warning when he passed it along?
Agree with Searching, Eve did not hear the original command. She may also have overcompensated in the response to the serpent’s misquote of the command for emphasis.
Also want to add, the questions can be a clue for who is trying to deceive us. Did God really say?
Love all of your insights. Praying for all. Asking for prayer for my back. It appears that my fall on the ice has affected my hip.
Also, continue to pray for Tammy. We went to see her on Saturday. She is so thin but still praising God and believing God for a miracle! Her faith is amazing!
So true. Always confirm by reading His word.
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I see God’s mercy, grace, and love for Adam and Eve in their story.
He sought them out knowing what they did. He asked questions to help them acknowledge their sin. He clothed them with the skin of an animal that He sacrificed for them. A foreshadowing of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin! I keep coming back to God is good! He is always seeking those He can redeem.
And so God introduces the reality of consequences
I am always drawn to songs that touch on the garden of Eden pre-fall. I myself include it in my own music. Thinking about God’s original “untainted” design is a comfort. It is good to know our origin story and return to it. <3
He showed mercy in clothing them as they left. I imagine they knew of His presence, even though they could no longer walk with Him.❤️
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We are no different than Adam and Eve, always wanting more than what God provides for us. It doesn’t take long after I’ve listed my gratitudes for the day that I grumble about something or desire something. I love how God makes clothing for them not just providing for them physically but for their emotional needs, their shame. I never noticed in Genesis 3:22 …man has become like one of US” referring to Jesus?
Astounding isn’t it, Linda!?
Those intimate moments with God make me think that is what it was like all the time in the garden of Eden. The shame that entered from eating the apple. The lies we continue to believe from Satan. How he just bends the truth slightly to turn our eyes away from the Lord. Thank you God that you did not abandon us and that there was another way. JESUS!
I noticed how Satan lied to Eve in Genesis 3:1 and twisted the words of God. He had given them freedom to eat of any tree except one, yet Satan tried to say they couldn’t eat from any of the trees.
It reminded me of what Jesus said in John 8:44: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
In contrast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. May we live by and remember His Truth daily so we may not submit to temptation.
Yes, Krist M!
Day by day by day…
I have heard it said that the way we view God’s response to the sin of Adam and Eve reveals what we think His response will be towards us when we sin. oof. I also found it interesting that the root of the fall came in Gen 3 when satan caused Eve to doubt the words of God (“did God really say…”)…and apparently she didn’t know them well enough herself to contradict him (God never said they couldn’t touch the tree). Don’t we hear the echo of Eden every day in our culture? “But did God *really* say xyz is wrong?” Oh, Lord, I am as vulnerable as Eve to doubting your word and your character. I want to be so steeped in who you are and what you say that I can stand firm when satan throws his accusations and his lies. Thank you for the blood of Jesus that enables me to stand before you in confidence without shrinking or hiding, even when I have sinned. I am so very grateful.
This resonates with me so much. Very similarly were my journaling notes over day 1. Satan deceives, he is a liar. He plants questions and thoughts of doubt and injustice pray that I am so deeply rooted in God’s truth and led by the Holy Spirit that I recognize the lies from truth.
Amen, thank you for the thoughts and wisdom Rachel!
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Perhaps one of the most unsettling things for me in reading Genesis is that I wonder what I would do if I was Eve. On the outside, I think, “Why, Eve?” Why was she so easily tempted when she was in the place of God’s perfect creation? Would I have done the same? The quick answer I want to say is no, but the truest answer is more likely yes. But, is that because everything changed for humanity in that moment and I can’t think any other way, or because I would be just like Eve. These are wrestlings in my mind that will have no answer this side of heaven. I have always felt that God’s heart in seeking Adam & Eve out from hiding was that of a tender, grieving Father, not one of anger. Yes, He hates sin, but it breaks His heart and just like we read in the last line of the devotional, He was immediately making a way to bridge the gap, to bring restoration, hope and healing.
“I imagine they had barely set foot on the road before God was planning a way to meet them again.”
Thank you Lord, that from the very beginning, you were making a way and for the depths of your love for us.❤️
How relatable, Wendy B!
“I have always felt that God’s heart in seeking Adam & Eve out from hiding was that of a tender, grieving Father, not one of anger. Yes, He hates sin, but it breaks His heart …”
Wendy, I’ve also wondered why Eve so quickly gave in to the serpents temptation. Would I have done the same? But, I’m a sinner, just like Eve, so I’m sure I would have. And just like Adam and Eve, don’t I look for excuses or someone or something to blame when I sin? I’m so thankful God loves me so much He provided Jesus to cover all my sins. God, indeed, looked for a way to be with us again.
Everyday is a good day when the devotional is written by Jen Yokel. She is an incredible writer, what a gift to us. Excited for this study!!!
Amen & Amen!
Loved this on this early Monday morning! As Jen wrote God was not abandoning us forever. He won’t. Loved the last part “I imagine they had barely set foot on the road before God was planning a way to meet them again.” Looking forward to our new study together. TODAY 41 years ago on Cinco de Mayo, and I mention this every year, JESUS became the Lord of my life as a 17 year-old high school girl! I’ll never get this day! BEST decision ever. Through ups and downs, here I still stand because of my JESUS!
Happy Spiritual Birthday, Mari! ❤
Happy Spiritual Birthday!
Grace upon Grace upon Grace upon Grace…
Dear Mari V!
The last line of the devotional where the writer says, “I imagine they had barely set foot on the road before God was planning a way to meet them again.” Wow! God is so good. Can’t wait to read all of your perspectives about different people from the Bible as we continue in this study!
I always saw God’s questions when Adam & Eve were hiding as angry ones too, Jen Yokel. Looking at those same questions as evidence of His grief put it all in a different perspective. Thank you for that. And thank you, God, for loving and caring for me through it all. ❤️
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I love how Jen brings out the most likely possibility that God was more grieved than angry that Adam and Eve had sinned.
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Does God hate sin – yes. But it also grieves Him…”Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Genesis 6:5-6
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I now better understand His grief. Just as you or I who might have a child that commits a horrible sin – we would be so grieved, not just because they sinned, but because of the consequences they must endure because of that sin.
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God has a tender heart, one of mercy and compassion. And even though God forbid Adam & Eve from entering the garden again, He made a way for them. He had a redemption plan already in place. He was not abandoning them forever. That is our God. That is how much He loves us.
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Looking forward to doing this new study of OT people with you all!
Happy Monday! ❤️
I was typing as you were! You also noted the grief of it all! ❤️
This reminds me of sending my adult children into the world because they think they are ready to do things their own way. But you know the hard times that may be before them.
God was displeased in their disobedience – bet He loved them and loves us and always desires our return with repentance and obedience. I love how the writer says she can only imagine that God was immediately planning their return.
Listen to the song “A New Eden” from The Belonging Co. Lauren Sloat.
So thankful for this reminder that God never leaves us nor forsakes us, and has made a way to always be with us through Jesus’s sacrifice and the Holy Spirit. Thank you Father ❤️ praying everyone has a blessed start to their week!
Have a great week Taylor! ❤️
Humanity, created in God’s image (Genesis 5) with intentionality and care(Genesis 1:27 & 2:7), shared identity and purpose “He blessed them and called them mankind” (Genesis 5).
Father God,
As I read the story of Adam and Eve, I see pieces of myself in them. You made them in Your image, just like me. You gave them love, purpose, and freedom—but they made mistakes, and so do I.
Thank You for seeking them even when they ran, and for covering their shame. Thank You for offering hope, even in the middle of failure.
Help me to trust You more, to listen to Your voice, and to walk closely with You each day. Thank You for being a God of grace, then and now.
Amen.
Love this! ❤️
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Yes, Kimberly.
Then & Now!
Amen
I believe God had to take them out of the garden to protect them. “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22
We would always be separated from God.
How it makes me long for the day Jesus restores it all. Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen
I woke up early and so did my 9 year old little girl❤️ I read this out loud together with her . Sparking questions and precious conversation. This morning “We Read Truth.”
I love that you shared that precious time with your daughter.
Yes! Amen!! Beautiful. That should be our first priority, to guide and raise up our children in the Lord!
Beautiful little “God moments”! ❤️
Amen!
Adam and Eve – I know their story well, having read these verses many, many times. With God’s word, though, there is always something new to see, learn, feel.
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Of all the trees in the garden, they listened to the serpent and chose knowledge of good and evil over life. Wow – what do we see all around us? People listening to the evil one, and choosing evil over life in Christ.
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God told them the consequences of their sins (the disobedience, lying …) in Gen 3:16-19. But did they have any understanding of the enormity, difficulty, pain and permanence of this life change?
When I sin, I usually have a pretty good idea of the consequences – having either committed this same sin before or having seen or heard of someone else having done so. Adam & Eve- their only frame of reference would have been their lives up to this point – living in a garden paradise, walking and talking with God. A 180° change awaited them.
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Even after this, God did not, has not, abandoned mankind. Thank you, Lord.
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TERESA DONLEY- joining you in prayer for Cincinnati area
MARI V – thank you for sharing the financial praise! Congrats on the award ❤️
“Of all the trees in the garden, they listened to the serpent and chose knowledge of good and evil over life. Wow – what do we see all around us? People listening to the evil one, and choosing evil over life in Christ.” Never thought of it that way before, but wow! Choosing knowledge over God! Sad.
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Have a blessed day! ❤️
❤ Amen, Searching; well said, sister! And rarely do people “cower/hide in shame” anymore.
To walk with God in a beautiful paradise. Adam and Eve had it all – yet they wanted more. Not only do the opening chapters of the Bible describe how it all began, and how God intended things to be, but they also clearly depict the human heart. We are never satisfied. We are not God yet want to be a god. Anyone who has spent time with small children can see it so clearly. Children want their own way. If you say no, it makes it even more enticing. The human heart needs God. I feel it so deeply this morning. I need God’s direction. I need God’s discipline. I need God’s strength and wisdom to make good decisions on this broken Earth.
Rightly said, Laura, and I am right there with you in that need! ❤
Whole Heartedly!!
I’m thankful for His forgiveness and guidance
Amen.
The Lord G-d asked the woman, “What have you done? I think about a statement that still echoes through through the corridors of time: “Father God forgive them for they know not what they have do. ” Adam and Eve already knew good because they knew God. So many awful new things were introduced when they chose the occult or this hidden knowledge of evil. Fear, shame, pain, blame, curses, hard labor, the desire to hide etc. Fear and shame never existed before.
When the man and his wife heard the sound of G-d walking in the garden could the have been Jesus? God in his bodily form?
Beautifully written, thank you so much for sharing
Forever fascinated as to what God walking through the garden may have “sounded” like!!
I cannot wait to “walk” with God “unashamed” in the new heaven and earth.
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Happy Monday
What a day that will be! ❤️
Amen! ❤️
But all of Scripture tells us that God is good, kind, and merciful. If we believe this is the core of God’s character, how does the story change?
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Does it?
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This is a truly wonderful.. BUT GOD.. Situation, for He, has never changed since the beginning of time.. He loved, adored, walked, talked and was with those He made in His own image, Adam and Eve, even when and after the fall.. He continued to care love and walk with them ..
God’s heart knows no way to dislike of hate His people, His loves, but He sure can dislike our actions that are not in line with His plans for us..
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Today,ALL those centuries later, He is still walking and talking beside us in the form of the given Holy Spirit, we are and have never been alone, since the world began, and praise God, the generations to come, will know this TRUTH tooooooo.
He will always meet us, no matter our journey, His love for His image bearers is too great, His heart is for us … Always..
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Thanks be to God..
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AMEN..
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Happy Monday, my loves.. Praying all is well for you all, and continuing to pray into requests..
Much love,
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Tina.❤❤
So true, TINA ❤️
He searched for them. He did not destroy them, He clothed them, and gave them an open door to repent.
He never changes! Thank you.Thank you, Tina.❤️
Love this!! This story brings to mind how God is described as “tender” in our last study. A tender Father, heartbroken over his children’s disobedience.
Yes, I so get that, makes it relatable!
He is the same – yesterday, today & forever! ❤️
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Having studied God’s attributes in our previous study I am looking at Adam and Eve’s story with a new perspective. Understanding His steadfast love and mercy helps me to feel His grief over Adam and Eve’s
transgressions,and as Tina pointed out the fact that God will meet us where we are ,He’ll
Come running to meet us! Thankful for the previous study and how it will help us to feel compassion for and extend grace to the biblical characters we’ll meet in this study!
Yes, indeed!! Paradise lost. But Perspective gained.
Great insights.
Thank you, God, for loving and caring for us.