Are you listening to God or someone other than God? It is life's fundamental question or choice—"Am I trusting God or something or someone other than God?"

Since you have read about the woman’s judgment, you already have some insight about what God will be doing with the man’s judgment.

First Element

This is probably the most important lesson for men. It is the reason God issued the judgment. If you have not let the first part of verse 17 grab your attention, please read it slowly.

“…you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘you shall not eat of it’.” – Genesis 3:17a

Here is an especially important question for you, which ties directly to God’s statement to Adam –

Who is your “Who said so”?

Adam knew THE “Who said so” and chose to replace God with Eve. Are you doing something similar in your life? Is your “Who said so” someone or something other than God?

You can know the answer by just looking at what you value and where you spend your time and money. You know the correct answer is God, and probably even say it, but the reality of your time and money shows you the truth. Unfortunately, getting along with others, especially with your wife, can easily become more important than dealing with difficult issues, listening to God, and doing what He says is the right thing.

The common sayings, “Happy wife – happy life!” or “If momma isn’t happy, nobody is happy!” may be the way a lot of relationships work, but that does not make it right. In fact, those will likely mean you are not leading, just like Adam did not lead.

Second Element

The ground is cursed. If you stop there, that may not sound that bad for Adam, but God follows with four new things that will now be part of Adam’s, and your, existence.

• Toil will be required in order to eat
• Thorns and thistles will grow from the ground
• Herb of the field will be a food source
• Sweat will be required to eat bread

Finally, the ground will take him back as dust. The earth or dust was what Adam was created from and he will now die and turn back to dust.

Theme or Focus

In this passage, you have:

• Listening to someone about what to do – not God
• Ground is cursed, which now requires pain and sweat in order to eat
• All that is done will only lead back to dust

The theme is…

WORK (Activity), Providing

Please note that work is NOT the curse – it just leads back to dust; work is no longer fulfilling as it was before the fall.

To get the full impact of this judgment, do you remember how Adam – and all men – are designed? Go back to chapter 2 in Genesis…

…before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground – Genesis 2:5

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. – Genesis 2:15

Why is looking at our design so important? Man’s judgment directly impacts his design!

Just like the woman’s relational design is impacted by her judgment, the same linkage is true for a man and his design and judgment. More on this later!