As early in scripture as Genesis 3:1-19, God introduces us to the deception of Satan. Satan is not to be dismissed as parable but in fact is a real and powerful being that wants to deceive us and create separation from us and God. To do this, Satan does not need to convince us to serve him, he just needs to convince us to disobey or stop trusting God.
3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
but he will rule over you.[c]”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
There is much depth to this scripture, all cleverly packed into a story even a child can understand.
- Satan is real. He will come against us often when we are alone. You likely will not recognize who he is when he comes.
- Satan knows what God has said and lies to convince us God’s word is not true.
- When we choose to sin, we often have a tendency to get others to do it with us or to agree with our behavior, to help rationalize that our disobedience to God was acceptable.
- We do not help others by accepting and agreeing to their sin. Instead we create separation for ourselves from God as well. We would help them by pointing out their sin and guiding them to repent.
- When we listen to Satan and disobey God, we interrupt the good plan God has for our lives and instead replace it with our own path. God will not force us to follow Him. That would not be love.
- When we sin, we cannot hide from God. Better to come before Him in repentance and seek forgiveness through His grace.
- There are real and tangible consequences to our sin. They cannot be avoided by blaming someone else as Adam and Eve did. All who did the deceiving and those who allowed themselves to be deceived and reject God’s instruction will be held accountable.
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