The title of this post comes from Walter Brueggemann’s influential essay ‘The Costly Loss of Lament,’ written in 1986 (repr. in Psalms and the Life of Faith).
Thorns, Sweat, and Pain in the Garden of Eden
Readers of Genesis may be forgiven for assuming that the ‘curse’ in Genesis 3 introduced all forms of discomfort, pain, and trouble that exist within the created order. The woman would experience birth pains and the man would sweat while trying to uproot thorns from the ground. Reading back from the curses of Genesis 3 leads one to imagine a Garden of Eden full of blissful perfection. Adam and Eve waltzed through the garden effortlessly plucking fruit off (the right) trees and plucking roses from thornless bushes.