"And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” -Genesis 3:1
We can learn a lot from the first temptation in the Bible. In the beginning God created everything and there was no sin, man and God had perfect fellowship. Satan however had already been cast down at this point and he appears to Eve as a serpent-like creature. (possessed?) Some believe it was more like an upright type of lizard maybe even a dragon. The first three conversations recorded in the Bible of Satan have him trying to tempt someone into something. In Genesis 3 he is tempting Eve to disobey God, in Job 1 he conversates with God in order to tempt Job to curse God, and in Matthew 4 he tempts Jesus to deny God and bow to him. Here he tempts Eve using God's word. First he grabbed her attention, by approaching her. She wasn't looking for trouble, trouble found her. Second he questioned God's word to cause her to question it herself. Satan loves to plant doubt in our minds before we fall into sin. Third he burdens the word to make God look unfair, like If God is holding out on us. Fourth Satan denies God's word in verse 3 he tells Eve "you will not surely die". The enemy is the father of lies and there is no truth in him. He will twist God's word because he himself is twisted. And fifth he adds to God's word, "you will be like God" (v4) he told her. Let's learn from this and let's be aware of the Devil's strategy and be saturated in God's word so we can "resist the devil and he will flee" from us! (Jam 4:7)
- HOW CAN IGNORANCE OF GOD'S WORD AND THE ENEMY'S STRATEGY LEAVE US VULNERABLE?
- Luke 22:31 “..listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat," - Jesus (ISV)