Momentary Affliction

To the woman [God] said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing."
GENESIS 3:16
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Momentary Affliction

Eve had a heart full of joy even in an apparently sad situation. Perhaps she gave comfort to Adam by saying: "I have sinned. But see what a merciful God we have. How many privileges, both temporal and spiritual, He is leaving for us sinners! Therefore we women should bear the hardship and wretchedness of conceiving, of giving birth, and of obeying you husbands. His is a fatherly anger, because this stands: that the head of our enemy will be crushed, and that after the death of our flesh we shall be raised to a new and eternal life through our Redeemer. These abundant good things and endless kindnesses far surpass whatever curse and punishments our Father has inflicted on us." These and similar conversations Adam and Eve undoubtedly carried on often in order to mitigate their temporal adversities. Similarly we also ought to reflect often on the inexpressible treasures of the future life and by such thoughts make light the hardships of the flesh. We see Paul doing this in 2 Corinthians 4:17. "Our affliction," he says, "is for a moment and light; for it works in us an eternal weight of glory if we look not at those things which are seen but at those which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but those which are not seen are eternal."
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