It is hard not to think of Eve as the woman who had it all. She had the perfect body, the perfect husband, and a home in Paradise. There was no other woman for Eve to compare herself with, or a reason to feel insecure about her husband’s affection. She was his; he had only eyes for her. Life was a bed of roses — and no thorns.

What was not immediately obvious, if we could have observed them, is the reason why they were so content and happy with each other in the garden of pleasure. It wasn’t the environment; it wasn’t their perfect love for each other — it was their perfect relationship with their Creator. They eagerly looked forward to the voice of the Lord walking in the garden to come fellowship with them. He was the reason for their existence and there was not an area in their lives in which they did not enjoy and glorify Him. They were a truly God-fearing couple. No, they were not afraid of God, but they were in awe of Him. They respected and loved Him for who He was: His character, His power, and His love.

Then one day it all changed. The woman was wandering around in the Garden taking in all its beauty, the wonderful smells, the harmonious sounds when she came close to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There she heard a voice she had not heard before. It was not Adam, or God, but a beautiful reptile that was speaking to her. O Eve, why didn’t you get Adam’s help right away? The serpent knew how to catch her attention. He knew her bent toward God. So, he began his mischief with the name: “Yea, hath God said...?” Maybe hearing His name put her somewhat at ease or lowered her guard. And so she kept listening. “Has God said that you cannot eat of every tree of the garden?” He was so wickedly cunning to speak a half truth with the goal to deceive — to make freedom look restrictive and plenty not enough.

We know what happened next. She saw, she took, she ate, and she shared the fruit with Adam. Instead of keeping the fear of God before her eyes, she turned away. And at the moment that Adam ate the fruit, death entered into the world. Their perfect relationship with God was dead, broken by a desire to please self instead of God. Instantly, that beautiful relationship between the first human couple also died. Instead of glorying in his woman, Adam began resenting her to the point of blaming God. From that moment on they became dying people.

How then could Adam rename his wife Eve, which means “Mother of all living”? Adam had lost all, and we in him, but God did not leave them to themselves drifting among the thorns and thistles, blaming each other. He came with the promise of hope and help and eternal life — in another Man! And even though the pain and suffering of childbearing was a curse, childbearing itself became Eve’s — and ultimately our — redeeming blessing.

What can we learn from Eve’s history?⤒🔗

Even a perfect spouse and a perfect environment will not bring us perfect happiness. Eve’s happiness was in her Creator, not in her position or her own perfection. So dear sisters in the Lord, let’s stop mulling over those “if onlys.” We are so tempted to think that if only something would change, if only something could be added, or if only something taken away, then we would be happy. No, we will only be happy when we are happy in God: happy that He is who He is as not only our Creator, but also our Savior. We know how the promise of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we are faced daily with the same choice Eve had: are we going to please self or are we going to please God? Do we fear God and sin, or do we fear we will miss out? Do we believe God’s Word or the clamor and whisperings of the world? Are we thankful for God’s order in creation and in the church? Or do we believe the enemy who says that there is no freedom in being a true woman of God? Yes, we lost our perfection. But the good news is that we can be happily fulfilled in His perfection!

So where are you right now: among the “all living” or still sinfully stuck among the forever dying?