I realized a couple things today:
1. Satan lies to us and makes us think that God is withholding something we really need. In the garden, he told Eve that God was denying her true knowledge. "Oh, God is so mean, Eve! You're saying God doesn't want you to have knowledge?" In Matthew 4 (Jesus' temptation in the wilderness), he tells Jesus that God is denying Him food ("turn this rock into bread") when He was so hungry. "Oh Jesus, God is so mean. You're saying God doesn't want you to eat?"
2. Satan always twists God's truth into a lie that seems to provide better results than the original truth. In the garden, he told Eve that having knowledge would make them like God. Doesn't that sound good? In Matthew 4, he tells Jesus that He should jump off a cliff and have the angels catch Him. That sounds pretty good too, except that that sneaky devil was trying to test God.
It's true, Eve. The serpent does deceive us (Genesis 3:13). He tries to deceive us everyday and choose a truth that's close to God's....but just a tiny bit different. And the results are disastrous.
However, the good news is, we get a choice. Satan's only power is temptation, which thank the Lord is not a sin (James 1:13-15). We get to choose good from evil, right from wrong, God's path or the world's path.
I hope everyday I will choose God's truth over Satan's lies. Because God's results are the only ones that give life, hope, peace, and true joy.
1 comment:
Well said, Ari. I've been thinking a lot this week about how The first question the serpent asked was designed to make Eve doubt God's love for her.
We read and discussed this passage with the kids last night trying to emphasize the fact that Satan lies, but his lies often contain partial truths.
Good stuff in BSF this year, as always.
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