Through the Seasons

Deception

Genesis 2:9a, “And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”

Genesis 3:4-7, “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely 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.’  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 who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Notes from my ESV Study Bible:

“The serpent contradicts God and goes on to present the fruit of the tree as something worth obtaining.  The serpent speaks half-truths, promising much but delivering little.  Their eyes are indeed opened, and they come to know something, but it is only that they are naked.  They know good and evil by experience, but their sense of guilt makes them afraid to meet God; they have become slaves to evil.

Like the other trees in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was ‘pleasant to the sight and good for food’.  The irony is that somehow the serpent has made the woman discontent with the permitted trees, focusing her desire on this one.  Its deadly appeal to her, apparently, is its ability to make one wise – wise, however, not according to the ‘fear of the LORD’.”

So not only does the serpent say that God is not to be trusted, he also suggests that He is holding out on Adam and Eve.  As is with temptation, the sin doesn’t live up to the promised benefits and is actually destructive.  At the time a sinful desire rises, I can’t imagine following through isn’t the best thing for me but afterward the guilt and letdown always follows.  When will I believe, truly believe, that what God has for me is what is best for me?  He gave Adam and Eve a garden full of trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food but they weren’t content with that.

Reading this passage this morning made me sorely aware of how much I take for granted the many wonderful things God has given me and instead focus on that one thing I don’t have and especially if that one thing I don’t have is the same thing someone else does have.  I am tempted to think God is not to be trusted that He works all things together for my good.  I am tempted to think He is holding out on me and therefore isn’t as wise about my life as I am.  I am tempted to want more than what I have been given instead of resting in gratitude for His abundant grace in my life.  I all too quickly forget that He doesn’t owe me anything.  What blessings He has poured onto me apart from me meriting or deserving them but only as a testament to His love, mercy, grace, and goodness!

Ephesians 5:18b-20, “…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”