FOR WOMEN ONLY!

                  ‘What a Pain’ photo by MRB.

It’s called the ‘curse’ in England.  The derivation of the word ‘curse’ is probably from a misreading of the Genesis account regarding what God said to Eve in response to her disobedience in the Garden of Eden; To the woman he said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.’  
Notice that He didn’t curse her.  He simply told her what the consequences were for her disobedience. AND it appears He added bleeding once a month to her pain!!! 

Thank God I’m a man!  BUT, is it really a ‘curse’ to be able to bring new life into the world?  And if as the scripture says in Romans 1:20, ‘the invisible things of God are clearly seen in the things He has made’, and as I have said before, the world and everything in it is one gigantic metaphor, then what is the meaning and purpose of this ‘curse’?, the monthly shedding of blood by women???

What I found extremely interesting is scientists don’t really have a definitive answer for why a woman bleeds!  In an article from Psychology Today entitled, ‘The First Curse on Women:  Menstruation’, Why do women of reproductive age lose a pint of blood every year?’  Robert D. Martin, P.H.D. shares several alternative theories regarding the reason for menstruation.  (See link to the article below).  But at the end of the article, he concludes by saying, ‘The bottom line is that we still await a conclusive ‘evolutionary’ explanation for human menstruation.  But surely women everywhere deserve to know why they are burdened with this monthly curse.’

Even the good doctor calls it a ‘curse’.  OH REALLY?  
God did not use the word curse when He spoke to Eve!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-we-do-it/201408/the-first-curse-women-menstruation.

Think about this for about an hour or two!!!  What was the single most significant, most important, life or death event in all the history of the world?  THE SHEDDING OF JESUS BLOOD ON THE CROSS!!!   This single event made it possible for us to have life.  It delivers us from death to life ETERNAL!  ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’  Romans 6:23. 

Thanks to the sin of Adam and Eve, we were born separated from God!  ‘But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.’  Isaiah 59:2.

But this one event ‘reconciles to himself (God) all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Colossians 1:20. It reconnects us to God!!!  The shedding of His blood was NOT a curse, but a remarkable blessing!  

Our omniscient God had a plan from the very beginning to save mankind.  He knew that one day he would send His only son to die on a cross.  It was CRITICALLY important to Him that man become aware not only of their sin, but that the shedding of His son’s blood would pay the price for this sin and reconcile us to Him.  So He instituted a sacrificial system that required the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins.  Sin needed to be dealt with because it is sin that came between God and man!  

GOD STARTED IT!  

What was the first thing God did for Adam and Eve after they disobeyed Him?  He shed the blood of an animal to make them ‘coats of skins’.  This showed them and us just how much He still cared for them and was the first precursor to the sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross.  He also decided to have women of a certain age menstruate or shed blood.  I don’t believe that menstruation would have been part of God’s original plan for women in the Garden.  It (in my humble opinion) wouldn’t have served any purpose.  

I believe that God intended ‘the shedding of blood’ to be a BLESSING!  A privilege that only women share as a mnemonic!  A constant reminder and the second precursor to Christ shedding His blood on the Cross.  Only a woman who sheds blood can bring new life into this world!  And it is only Jesus who shed His blood on the cross who can bring new life to those who were dead!    

‘But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.’  Eph 2:4-5.

The book of Leviticus written in 1467 BC records that God ordained that animals would be sacrificed and shed their blood as another precursor to His son shedding His blood.  Do you have any idea how many animals were sacrificed to cover the sins of the Israelites?  The estimates are 600 to 15,000 per day from 1467 to AD 70.  They ended at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the armies of Rome.  The numbers are staggering!  BUT again, this shows you just how important it was for God to provide a temporary covering of sin and a foreshadow of the ‘sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all!’  Hebrews 10:10.  

This is written as a word of encouragement to women.  Next time you ovulate, think about how incredibly important this ‘shedding of blood’ is to God and rejoice that you have been chosen to remind us of the most important ‘life or death’ event in the history of the world, the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross! 

REJOICE!