The Lie

 

DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE LIE

Gen 3:1-7

3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

NIV

This is one of the most difficult yet most important passages. The question of the ages has always been about the identity of the serpent. This creature was made by God the same day he formed man, and, according to the account, this creature walked upright, spoke the same language as Adam and Eve, and had reason, as it reasoned with Eve during its temptation of her. None of the great theological minds has come to an agreement as to what kind of beast this was, other than it was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. We could not speculate, as we have no basis to know what kind is meant by the term serpent, although every time the Hebrew word is used, it is translated as serpent, at times implying a type of snake, but then that was the curse placed upon it for its role in the fall of man. However, the point we believe is relevant to the truth is that the attempt to deceive with a lie always comes from the mouth of Satan. Then we would have to believe this serpent, whatever type of beast, was an agent used by Satan to draw Eve away from believing God. Because that is the truth of this passage, we can be certain that all temptations are from the evil one, Satan, or an agent he uses, to draw us away from believing God. There is no question that we are all born with sin, and in our human condition, we will never be totally free from all sin. However, what is the cause of our sin, and does it draw us away from believing God? Surely, we believe in God, but the serpent's temptation of Eve was not about her belief in God, but her believing God. This is the question for our hearts: do we believe God? It is a much larger issue than believing in God. Can we say that all temptations are an effort to sway us from believing God? Had Adam and Eve told the serpent that they would stick with believing God, they would not have fallen, and sin would not be in the world today. They had the choice to believe God or the lie.  Then we need to deal with the omniscience of God, that he knew before creation, this temptation and acceptance to believe evil rather than him would happen, and that Jesus would need to come to redeem his creation, giving them back the choice to believe the serpent, or God. That is always the choice, but when we fall, does that mean we choose at the moment to not believe God? That seems to be true, no matter how much we say we believe what God has said. We should always remember his forgiveness, his grace, his love, his mercy, that we are in Christ, our sins are covered by his blood, we have been washed cleaner than the whitest snow, and that we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us. Thank you, Lord!