January 3 - Nº 3 Genesis 3:1-13, 21
Satan was not happy that God had renovated the dilapidated world he called home. He did not like that God had created a perfect Garden and assigned mirror images of Himself to be His representatives. So, disguised as a beautiful serpent, Satan snuck up to Eve and lured her with his beauty and words. He challenged God’s truthfulness and His love. “God is not telling you the truth,” he ridiculed. “If you eat the fruit, you won’t die! God is trying to prevent you from being as wise as He is. If He really loved you, He would allow you to enjoy it.” Eve believed Satan’s lies. After all, the fruit was very attractive, she was hungry, and who wouldn’t want to be as wise as God? Even though God had given her everything she needed, Eve wanted more. So, she took a bite and offered it to her husband. He, too, believed Satan’s alluring lies. Just as Satan had promised, Adam’s and Eve’s eyes were opened to new experiences—they began to see things they had never imagined. Do you recall the name of the tree that bore the fruit God had forbidden them to eat? It was “the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” (see #2 - January 2). Up until that first bite, everything that Adam and Eve experienced had been “very good.” But suddenly they encountered “evil.” Their choice to disobey God had just unleashed it on the whole world. For the first time they watched as hungry lions attacked grazing gazelles, thorns pierced their feet, and mosquitoes bit their arms. For the first time they felt fear and pain and regret. Nakedness no longer felt safe, so they clumsily covered themselves with fig leaves. When God came to walk with them that evening, Adam and Eve hid from Him. He called out, “Where are you?” (Of course He knew—after all, He is God!) But He wanted them to realize how far their sin had separated them. Instead of enjoying fellowship with Him, they were now hiding behind some trees. Adam responded that they were afraid. They hid because they did not want God to see their nakedness. “But who informed you that you were naked?” God wanted to know. He certainly had not! They had been naked since the day He created them. God wanted them to acknowledge that they had listened to the wrong person. Then God asked directly if they had disobeyed him, and they immediately started playing “the blame game.” They blamed the serpent. They blamed each other. Adam even blamed God, because He had made Eve, and she was the one who had believed the snake! When they were finally willing to admit that they had each made a sinful choice, God initiated the process of redemption and restoration. It started with the shedding of blood as God killed an animal to make garments of skin to cover their nakedness.
Who are you listening to? There are really only two voices that fight for our attention: God’s and Satan’s. Satan often uses other people to make us think we deserve more than what God has already given us. When we accept their lies, we feel guilty and find ourselves hiding from Him. We need to admit our sin and allow God to forgive us. Only then can we enjoy fellowship with Him again.
