Genesis 3:1-7
We all face decisions every day. Many of those decisions aren’t all that important, such as what we will wear, or whether to listen to this or that radio station as we’re driving to the store. Other decisions we face are vitally critical, and will affect us for the rest of our lives, even affecting our descendants after us. For that reason, those decisions need to be carefully thought through before we decide what we’re going to do. We need to make sure we have good and reliable information before we decide, and know that our source is trustworthy. In our Scripture passage today, a very familiar one from the Book of Genesis, we see a decision that was made that affected not only the people that made it, but all mankind from then on. A free decision to listen to and follow the wrong words, the wrong way.
We all know the familiar account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was a paradise given by God to the couple to live in and tend. They had everything they could possibly want or ever need. There was only one restriction - they were not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17). God used that tree to test Adam and Eve’s loyalty and trust. He gave Adam and Eve a warning, that if they were to eat from that tree they would die. God wanted them to obey, but He gave them freedom to choose. With that tree and its fruit they could decide to obey and gain God’s blessings and rewards, or they could decide to disobey and reap the consequences.
As our passage opens, Satan had come on the scene in the guise of a serpent. When he steps into our life, Satan doesn’t usually announce who he is, telling us exactly what he is up to. He is very cunning, wily, scheming, and manipulative. And most importantly, as the Scripture says, he is a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). That day in the Garden, the serpent began a conversation with Eve. The first thing he did was to question God’s command, getting Eve to doubt God’s love and care for her (vs. 1). He implied that God was stingy, strict, and selfish. He caused her to forget God’s blessings. He lured Eve to focus on the one thing that she didn’t have, rather than all of the things she did have. Satan suggested to her that obedience to God’s Word is not necessary. Satan even told Eve that God’s Word was not true, that it was a lie (vs. 3). These are the same ways that he tries to tempt us into sin, as well.
Temptation is about whether we trust God’s intentions for us or not. Satan tried to raise doubts. He lured Eve to crave physical gratification. He lured her to try and acquire it at any cost. Eve looked at the tree with flesh-focused eyes. The forbidden fruit appealed to her in three ways. It was good for food, nice to look at, and desirable to make her wise. Those were normal, good desires. However, Satan took those desires and corrupted them. Eve lusted after the fruit and became controlled by desire to have it.
God warned Adam and Eve that when they ate the fruit of that tree they would die. When the couple ate, they didn’t immediately physically die, though that did come later. Instead, immediately afterwards their spiritual connection was severed. Their hearts were hardened. They stopped trusting God. Their fellowship with Him died. God’s presence brought panic, not peace. Fellowship with God ceased, and separation began. Sin broke Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. They no longer walked with Him, but instead they hid themselves.
Satan also feeds us with the lie that obeying God takes away our freedom. True freedom comes from obedience, and knowing what not to do. The restrictions are given for our well-being, just as a good parent won’t let their child play with fire or out in the middle of traffic. Obedience is necessary, and will bring God’s blessings.
We need to be alert for the temptations of Satan. Animals are always vigilant and watchful for any signs of danger approaching. Adam and Eve should have been alert to the traps of Satan. We need to be just as alert and vigilant (I Corinthians 16:13, I Peter 5:8-9). Let us be sure that we follow and obey the One who loved us enough to die for our salvation.
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