In the Beginning - Pt.4

Continuing the theatre analogy, this post brings the entrance of the villain of the play! Booo!

If there is an orchestra playing at this stage, they would surely be playing the well-known Frank Sinatra song: "I did it my way"! We find the script in Gen.3: 1-13, which I would encourage you to take time to read. The devil, in the form of a serpent, tempts us all into the one basic sin that we must all face - that of deciding for ourselves what is right, or wrong, instead of taking God's word for it! The one restriction placed on our first parents was, you may remember, "... of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Gen 2:17). 

That was a simple, straightforward, and easily understood instruction. However, the devil questions, and distorts, God's word: "He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" (Gen 3:1). Now, of course, that is not exactly what the Creator had commanded - but it is very close! The woman, who was being targeted, provided a more accurate quotation (vs 2-3 - but note the additional instruction that she included! cf. 2:17 if you need some help!), so then the devil flatly contradicts God's word: "... the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die.'" (Gen 3:4). He spreads the lie that God's law is actually an unreasonable restriction, and that He won't punish those who break that law: "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5).

The woman chooses to believe the devil, and the man follows suit: "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate." (Gen 3:6). What follows is a series of fractures as they come to terms with their own self-image: "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." (Gen 3:7). Worse than that there was a fracture in their relationship with God: "... they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But YHWH Elohim called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (Gen 3:8-10). When further questioned by God, there was also a breakdown in their own newly-formed relationship: YHWH asked "... 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?' The man said, 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'" (Gen 3:11-12). Oh, how easy it is to blame others - even God Himself! - for our own failures! And the woman did the same: "Then the YHWH Elohim said to the woman, 'What is this that you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.'" (Gen.3:13).

Can we be totally honest withourselves? Have there been times, even recently, when we have given into temptation? Times when we have believed the devil's lies? Have we then tried to pass the blame on to someone else? I suspect that each one of us must admit to this having been our frequent experience. Certainly, the apostle John makes it clear that none of us can, honestly, claim that it is never our experience! "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (I John 1:8-10; emphasis added). And, like our first parents, we try to put the blame on someone else! However, instead of doing that, we should allow God to emphasise, in our own consciences, that it is our fault! We may then confess it, and seek His forgiveness - a forgiveness that was won for us at Calvary.

Until next time.