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The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you…” Genesis 3:14a  ESV

 God is passing judgment on sin.  At this moment, a war commenced between what was holy and unholy.  Satan’s designs for mankind had been made public; he was one who seeks to devour and destroy.  Light and darkness would never live harmoniously together.  The two are antithetical.  Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be brought to desolation.” Matthew 12:25. Whether the forces of light and darkness fight in the heavenlies, or fight upon the earth, or war inside the life of every believer, the battle is intense and cataclysmic. 

There can be no good outcomes when a disciple of Jesus habitually sins.  What is the result when a believer’s light is dim, when some of his deeds are evil and others are holy?  What happens when God’s family sings together and then leaves to fight and gossip?   There is confusion as we send out a mixed signal.  The spiritual meal we offer others is void of salt and tasteless.  No one wants a second helping.  

In the garden, opposites were established.  It is God’s plan for His people to continue to draw a line in the sand with their lives.  When the lines are blurred, God is misunderstood.  People can’t separate who we are from who God is.  As we misrepresent him by living in the shadows of light and darkness, the world is repelled by a God whom they assume is also corrupt, driven by double standards.  Wary, they keep their distance because they reason that he surely can’t be trusted.

Satan is my enemy.  He represents everything that is evil and dark. 

Jesus is my Savior and Lord.  He represents everything good and glorious. 

I am a child of the Light.  As I live, may there be no confusion about my allegiance.

Make me holy as you are holy.  Make evil distasteful to me on all levels. Amen

Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3: 11-13

Eve, herself, relayed the sequence of events.  The serpent deceived her.  That is true.  She ate of the tree.  That is true.  But she failed to mention that these two events were separated by an additional one.  She thought through Satan’s words and processed them to make a choice.  Satan was cunning but he didn’t make her sin.  She did that on her own.  And ever since that day, Satan’s presence and influence have been public.  Whether he is portrayed as a caricature with a pitchfork or is the topic of a serious bible study, people throughout the earth are familiar with him in some fashion. 

If a trusted friend warned me about a certain someone, I would certainly listen.  I wouldn’t get involved with him on any level.  Yet Jesus, more credible than any trusted friend, warns me about my spiritual adversary.  Despite that, I continually flirt with him.  If his customized temptation is perfectly matched to my area of weakness, it feels like I’m helpless to say no.  The truth is, I always have a choice.  When Satan’s lure is too strong for me to resist, Jesus promises something called ‘grace.’  My sin is without excuse, just like the sin of Eve.

Jesus is clear.  “Don’t believe our common enemy.  He hates you because you belong to Me!”  If I trust my Savior, I will put up my guard today and secure my armor in place.  I will not be prey to the ultimate spiritual predator, the one who preyed on the angels in heaven to get them to join his mutinous enterprise.  He is no respecter of persons. 

You came to destroy the works of this evil one.  You’ve told all of us that this was your mission. Jesus, I’m yours and I join you in Your enterprise, starting with my own choices.  I lean completely on Your grace. Amen

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:9-10  ESV

Adam didn’t give the right answer when God asked him where he was.  Adam said, “I hid because I was naked.”  Technically, that wasn’t true.  He should have said, “I hid because I disobeyed you.”   Defensiveness was Adam’s default, and by extension, it is also mine.

There have been periods when I avoided God.  I quenched His voice when I could sense Him reaching out to me.  I kept the noise level high to drown out the wooing.  The more time went by, the harder it became to turn myself around.  Excuses were thin when I finally knelt before my Father.  “I was busy” didn’t cut it, and I knew it.  Like Adam, I tried to hide the real issue, but I also knew that the fracture in our relationship would never be right unless I told the truth of my detour. 

It’s a reminder that, sooner or later, every person who hides from God will stand before Him.  All will encounter Him as their Judge or as their Savior.   Those who ran from His presence because they were disobedient children will mourn their choices, and mostly, what they missed from being near perfect Love.  They will regret all the small things they hid behind, the exchanges they made to replace time with Him.  Those who rejected Him because they were enemies of the cross will also mourn their choices.  Like the rich man in Hades, they will see the expanse of an eternity before them that offers no second chances.

I can be consumed today with just a sideways glance of a mere acquaintance.  It will bug me for hours on end.  I might even obsess about it.  But, am I equally consumed when I sense that things between God and me aren’t right?  Of all relationships, this should disturb me most of all. 

Sometimes, I haven’t known what was wrong but when I asked, You showed me.  Thank you for all the times You came looking for me..  Amen

And 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 the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:8-9  ESV

I love the sound of the footsteps of one I’m longing to see.  The closer that person comes, the more the anticipation grows.  However, I dread the sound of the footsteps of one I’m not longing to see!

When I was 8, I ate some Easter candy that my parents told me not to eat it.  They were saving it for Easter.  The next afternoon, I was playing outside with two friends and remembered the candy.  Thinking that it would be the perfect snack for the three of us, I snuck in the kitchen and snatched it.  Oh, it tasted good and delighted my friends. 

That night in bed, I heard my father’s footsteps come to the bottom of the stairs.  Then, the dreaded question came.  “Christine, did you eat the Easter candy today that I told you not to eat?”  I lied.  “Nope, it wasn’t me.”  Suffice it to say, he got to the truth and I was disciplined.

Dread is always the response to someone I’ve wronged.  Let it be an authority figure and the dread will be a ‘cold dread’.  Is there any worse feeling than seeing the lights of a police car in your rearview mirror after realizing that you just ran a stoplight?

In spite of their sin of eating of the forbidden tree, God came searching for them.  The heart of God is for restoration even though discipline may also be called for.  I don’t believe God came bearing the tone of voice that my father used, “Where ARE you?”  That usually means that you’re in big trouble.  I do believe God’s question was that of a heartbroken Father who asked the question in a way that conveyed, “What happened?  Where did you go?”

You might ask why I think this. I am basing this on the rest of the story.  As soon as man fell, God already had planned for restoration.  The entire biblical narrative reveals a God who pursues, who loves while spurned, who gave up His only Son to make a way for the disobedient and rebellious to come home.

To everyone who is running today, God comes searching.  If I am willing to come clean and admit my sin, I meet a Father with open arms, with a promise to forgive because of what His Son did for me at Calvary.

So much justice here is perverted.  The innocent are punished and we cry, “Unfair!”  But You, O Lord, know me.  Your judgments are true.  Yet, You came searching anyway for enemies like me.  Thank you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.  And they heard the voice 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. Genesis 3:7-8  ESV

Self-hatred is one of the most difficult things to conquer as a Christian.  When I mess up badly, I not only hate what I did but I often hate myself.  “I can’t believe I did that!  What a jerk!”  You’ve said that to yourself, right?  Can you imagine the self-talk in the Garden of Eden after the forbidden fruit was eaten?  Self-hatred and self-condemnation must have ruled their hearts.

Shame says, “There’s not only something wrong with what I do, there’s something wrong with me!  I’m deeply flawed.”  This has NO fix that is holy outside of the healing love of Christ.  He is the only One who says, “I hate what you did but I love you!”

What is Satan’s counterfeit?  “Love yourself.  You’re not that bad.  You may mess up once in a while but you’re a god!”  None of that is true.

I am a desperately wicked sinner but one that is infinitely loved by Christ.  When I sin, I can want – with everything in me – to punish myself but Jesus reminds me that He already bore my punishment.  He died for the awful thing I just did as if He were the person who committed it.

One of the meanings of ‘forgive’ is to send away.  When God forgives my sin, he sends it away from me.  He puts it behind His back and never takes it out again to hold it up to my face as a reminder of how bad I am.  He would want me to know today that I am not my sin.

As John Newton put it in 1725, “I am a great sinner but Christ is a great Savior.”  As long as I keep the focus on Him and the love He offers me, I am not plagued by a life-long struggle to forgive myself for something I consider unforgivable.

I can forgive others much easier than I can forgive myself.  Help me know how you love me in a deeper way.  Amen

She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:6b  ESV

The woman allowed the serpent to engage her, and as he did, she put up no defenses.  Was Adam there with her as she was tempted?  If so, perhaps he heard it all.  If he was distracted however, wouldn’t he have been shocked when he saw that she had eaten of the tree? Wouldn’t a sense of dread have washed over him?  And when she offered him some of it, wouldn’t he have felt alarmed by her suggestion?

There was a void of leadership in the garden and, sadly, there is a void of leadership today too.  Yes, there are men who pray for their wives and children before they leave the house.  There are men who ask God for spiritual intuition to understand the needs of each family member.  There are men who are spiritually street-smart about the enemy and how he preys on the weaknesses of those he loves.  There are men who pray strategically for their families.

They exist.  But they are the minority.  Perhaps the man you are married to does none of the above, even though he professes to be a believer.  Perhaps you are a single mother raising your family by yourself.  What then?  You have a bridegroom who offers all the things you need.  He leads. He prays.  He protects.  He pledges himself in enduring love and makes more vows than could be recited in any marriage ceremony.  Each vow is a promise He is incapable of breaking.  

The absence of leadership in the garden contributed to the fall of future generations.  The woman ate and bore the consequences.  Adam neglected to lead and bore the consequences.  Every baby born after that bore the consequences.  The dynamics of what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden still play out today in every home.  Though an ancient story, I can’t afford to ignore everything it begs to teach me.   

Help me craft the prayers that are needed for the men in my life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

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… Genesis 3:6  ESV

 If Eve had regarded the tree as God described it, there would have been no sin.  He clearly communicated that consummation of the fruit of the tree meant death.  Wouldn’t that make the tree undesirable?  Once Satan appeared to reframe the story, the tree took on a different appearance.  It was transformed to ‘a tree that was good for food, a delight to her eyes, and the path to wisdom.’  Oh, how far her mind traveled!

 Could a piece of fruit make her wise like God?  When I consider her assumption, it’s ludicrous.  She kept company with Wisdom, knew Wisdom, and had only to ask His advice on any matter and He would speak to her.  She was going to trade Him for a piece of fruit.

I am wise only if I bow to God’s superior understanding.  I could spend my youth earning two earned doctorates and be a fool. I could be the cleverest wordsmith and still be a fool.  I could have an entrepreneurial gift to make myself a fortune but still be a fool.  I could be an expert in my field.  People could pay to hear me speak.  They could call me ‘brilliant’ and I might begin to believe them while the opinion of the One who matters is not in my radar.  I’ve chosen to believe that it’s possible to be filled with knowledge without having a covenant relationship with my Creator.

To put it in simple terms, Eve had God but, at that moment, didn’t value him.  She opted to trade him for the temporary pleasure of eating something that looked delicious.  That is the best definition of sin and I didn’t think of it, believe me!  Paul is the one that put it like this in Romans 1:22-23,  “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for __________________________.”

I know all too well from 67 years of experience. I see something I want.  Instead of walking away and keeping the beauty of Jesus in front of my face, I pick the fruit.  I turn it over and over in my hands.  I imagine its taste.  Then turn my back to Christ to consume it.

What is His love like?  In spite of how many times I do it, when I come running back and tearfully admit I blew it, He forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives.

You made a new covenant with Your death for my sin.  I’ll never get over it.  Amen

And the women said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  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.” Genesis 3:2-5  ESV

Satan’s original sin was the desire to be – God.  He was already beautiful, had a prominent place in heaven, but wasn’t content.  His power and influence were corrupted by his unholy appetite.  He could have organized a rebellion alone, but most likely, he didn’t want to.  He persuaded 1/3^rd of all the angels to rebel with him.  Because of it, he, and they, lost everything and were expelled from heaven.

What a mutiny.  His persuasive powers had to be effective enough to get angels, created beings who had only ever worshipped God, to defect with him. 

Isn’t it interesting that Satan tempted Eve with the exact same sin.  “Eat this – and you will be like God!”  Satan had looked out for himself in heaven.  Eve was now invited to do the same on earth.  She was intoxicated with the same desire.  She convinced Adam to partake, and he did.  What similar fates they, and Satan, would face.  Satan ~ expelled from heaven. Adam and Eve ~ expelled from Eden.

Why did they listen to Your enemy?  Why do I?  If I love You, then Your enemy should be my enemy.  If You call him a liar, then I should not trust one thing that comes out of his mouth.  I align my allegiance to You in iron.  Amen

He (Satan) said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  Genesis 3:1  ESV

Kids who want to break the rules at home look for excuses to do so.  They review what a parent said to see if they can find a tiny loophole.  They say to themselves, “Did they actually say I had to be home by dark?”   The word ‘actually’ encourages rebellion. 

Eve had never felt anything but the desire to worship her Creator.  She’d never rolled her eyes at Him, never entertained finding a loophole to God’s one forbidden rule.  Satan knew that if he came to Eve with an overt suggestion of mutiny, (“You should ignore God’s words.  How about rebelling?”)  she’d never buy it.  Instead, he knew he must appeal to her pride and ego.  Subtlety shaped his speech.

Discrediting God, with subtlety, is still his priority.  He knows God well but can’t be trusted to represent Him truthfully because he is a liar.  Satan’s native language is lies so he speaks them by default.  He (the devil) does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Jn 8:44   If he can get me to believe that God is ‘actually’ not what He says He is, then my desire to trust Him will be compromised.  Intimacy will disappear as I wonder whether He is ‘actually’ loving, faithful, and trustworthy. 

Expect arrows from your enemy that defame God’s character.  Be prepared to defend and protect your heart at all costs.

• “Yes, God forgives.  But do you feel forgiven?  Because he didn’t forgive you for that!”
• “If God really loved you, he’d have rescued you by now.”
• “You aren’t very good at this job!  Sally is, though.  He must love her more.”
• “Your son isn’t going to change.  God doesn’t care about him!  Look how long you’ve prayed.”

Whispers of lies.  No two sound the same because no two people are the same.  No two stories are the same.  Satan watches our lives like a hawk, sees what causes us to lose faith, and then crafts His comments to target our points of despair.   Each arrow is crafted with a language that sounds like us and feels natural and convincing. His arguments suggest stepping back from a faithful Father.  We must rise, be aggressive against His lies, speak scriptures about who God says He is and what He’s promised to do, and then defend the One who has not done one thing that is not for our good.

I will be listening for lies.  I won’t be passive when I hear them.  I will deflect each one with the shield of faith.  Amen

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. Genesis 3:1a  ESV

The Bible is full of stories that challenge my faith.  If I approach the scriptures scientifically, needing proof to believe, then I will reduce God to someone who only does and says what I think is possible.

I’m about to encounter a snake that can talk.  Is that feasible?  It’s out of the realm of my experience in the animal kingdom.  Surely this must be an allegory.  Also, Genesis doesn’t say that the snake was Satan.  Another reason to believe that this account is an allegory, the stuff of myths and fairytales.  I can be led into all kinds of errors if I don’t know my Bible and take into account the whole context of scripture.

John confirmed that the snake was Satan. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan…  Rev. 12:9

Paul confirmed it, too.  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  2 Cor. 11:3        

And what about a talking snake?  I don’t hear my animals talk to me.

However, I do have a wild and imaginative side.  So, I’m going to give you a snapshot of the Wyrtzen dinner table when our kids were small.  Picture a family of four around a table.  Two golden retrievers and a cat are positioned at various chairs, pawing the legs of whomever they hope might give them a piece of chicken.  When I wanted to have fun, I bent down, cocked my ear toward the mouth of a pet, and asked, “What’s that you say?  You believe the kids should eat more green beans?  Or, “What’s that you say?  Ryan should bring everyone breakfast in bed tomorrow?”  We laughed so much with this game. All kinds of convenient things came out of the mouth of our cat or dog.

I love it, that in scripture, Genesis 3 is not the only instance where an animal speaks.  God gave a voice to a donkey, too. (Numbers 22)  Peter confirmed it.  A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.  2 Peter 2:16   If I reject the account of the fall, I am questioning the inspiration of scriptures.

Randy Alcorn, in his book called HEAVEN, poses the question whether animals will talk in heaven.  Since there was ‘animal talk’ in the Garden, perhaps there will be ‘further talk’ when God creates a new heaven and a new earth.  Interesting to think about.

I celebrate You.  You are so powerful to make anyone and anything do the unthinkable.  Even the stones will praise You.  Amen