Genesis 1 was all about God establishing his order in creation. The creation account goes from primordial chaos to divine order. In Genesis 3, things turn the other way from order back to chaos. Everything is flipped upside down. Humans were created as the rulers over creation but here the lowest of all animals holds sway over them. The environment of peace where God and man are at rest now becomes a situation of conflict (3:15). The primary relationship, that between man and women, is no longer one of love but one of domination (3:16). The world no longer yields joy for man, but hardship (3:17-19) and man who came from dust to life, will now go back to dust. Soon everything will go back to the watery chaos of Genesis 1:2 (Genesis 7). Everything is reversed. But note how this happened. It happened because human beings abdicated their responsibility. They should have subdued and ruled over the creation. Now instead of ruling over nature, nature would rule over them. Sin was “crouching at their door,” but they did not “rule over it” (see Genesis 4:6). Their abdication of responsibility is evident in their refusal to take responsibility for their sin when God calls them to account: the man blames the woman and the woman blames the serpent (3:12-13). And so sin would reign over humanity for generations to follow (as Genesis 4-6 demonstrates), that is, until Christ did what Adam should have done. Jesus reversed the great reversal. If you therefore are willing to take responsibility for your sins, he will reinstate you so that you may reign with him.
Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and empower you to rule over your natural impulses.
Read Genesis 3
