Genesis 3:1-6

The Fall

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

I was talking with a friend the other day and in our conversation, he remarked: “when I get to heaven, I want to see Adam and I want to give him two good licks for the mess he caused”. My friend finds himself among a host of believers who have it in for our ancestors; those among us who seethe with resentment and even disbelief at Adam’s and Eve’s failure to uphold a simple command. My friend’s statement got me thinking about a revelation I had recently through scripture, one that has left me a bit more humble and less critical in my opinions of the original couple. In the moment of revelation, I realized not only had I not learned from the failings of Eve but that I could trace the DNA of many of my struggles right back to the Garden of Eden.

In the portion of scripture above, this simple yet profound reality laid bare before me. Three simple statements opened my eyes and shone a light so bright illuminating my own fig leaves and underpinning my kinship with Adam and Eve. Since then, resentment has morphed into empathy, humility, and grace.

God Said

The crafty serpent approached the woman with a question, “…did God really say…?” Eve, having heard the voice of God herself, knew the word, she was able to recite the word to the serpent.

Genesis 3: 3 “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.”

God still speaks to us through his word, sometimes he uses a messenger through a song, a book, a blog post, a sermon. Sometimes, he speaks to us through dreams and visions. Regardless of how He spea

Gword to the serpent.

Genesis 3: 3 “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.”

God still speaks to us through his word, sometimes he uses a messenger through a song, a book, a blog post, a sermon. Sometimes, he speaks to us through dreams and visions. Regardless of how He speaks, to those of us who know His voice it’s hard to deny that it’s Him speaking. But here is the struggle, knowing what He says doesn’t always satisfy us.

God Knows

Perhaps I’m not as sanctified as you lot, but God’s instructions to me often have to face off in a duel with my ‘whys’ before they are fully accepted. Like that time he told me that the guy who was the walking manifestation of my prayer list for a spouse was not to have access to my heart. He told me this in a dream. Man did I wrestle with that instruction! How can it be God? How do I know it’s really you speaking? Are you absolutely sure? You do realize he is all, and I mean ALL twelve things I’ve prayed about for the past ten years right? I battled with this for weeks. At the root of my rebellion was a yearning to know, to understand – Why. It didn’t make any sense to me. But here’s the thing, God in His omniscience knows all things and I had to learn to trust Him over my own desires.

The serpent not only introduced doubt into their minds, he also enticed them with a perversion of the truth.

Gen 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Prior to this statement by the serpent, Adam and Eve only knew what God said. Now they desired what He knew. It was true for me in the story I shared, I believe if you’re honest, you’ll find you struggle with this too. You wish your eyes could be opened to see, to understand why God directed you on a certain path rather than the course you had desired to take. Why your prayers for opened doors go unanswered, why this thorn in your flesh… There are many things we crave answers for and in those moments, rather than kneeling at our own thrones, we have to pray for faith to trust the God who knows!

The Woman Saw

Gen 3:6 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.

I cannot begin to confess how much of my disobedience begins with this window to my soul. Not just the things that entice me like the muscles on the brother that make my heart go “ba-dum boo’d up” but the things I see in the natural that make perfect sense yet somehow God has something different to say about it. Like I can see my paycheck, I can see my bills, what I can’t see is how tithing ten percent is going to put me in a better position. My basic math skills run contrary to God’s economics.

This brings us full circle and to the crux of the matter, we are called to live by faith, not by what we see, not what we desire not by what we think we deserve. That faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. In the beginning, the word was with God and the word was God. God himself appoints to each of us a measure of faith, sufficient to sustain the life we are called to live.

Eve knew what God said, but rather than take Him at His word, she desired her own demise packaged as sovereignty, independence. She allowed herself to be enticed by what she saw, and was drawn away and sinned against God. We share in the curse of the fall but we also have the benefit of learning from Adam’s and Eve’s mistake, yet we keep falling. Therfore, I exhort you like I did my friend, – careful what you store up for Adam.