The first sacrifice
Opening Prayer
In the hardships and disappointments in my life, Lord, help me to remember your countless provisions and give me faith for what I cannot yet see.
Read Genesis 3:17, 19-21
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Meditation
Adam and Eve had disobeyed God—they had sinned. The consequence would not only bring them hardship and death, it cursed all of creation. But in the disaster, there was such great hope! They had no children, but Adam trusted that God would make Eve the mother of all the living. And God made the first sacrifice and act of grace, clothing Adam and Eve in garments of skin. Such an amazing foretaste of promised things to come!