2001-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
The Lord has made it clear to me that He will bring us back to places in the Scriptures repeatedly throughout this series on spiritual warfare, because He wants to impart "combat intelligence" to us about the adversary. One might ask: Why are we spending time studying about this source of evil when we could be looking at other, more positive subjects? To me, the answer is clear. God wants us to have a working knowledge about the devil, because that is the only way we can discern who he is and what he is trying to do in our lives as he attempts to betray and deceive us. It's not that different than a football team taking the time to learn as much as it can about the opponents they will play at their next game. One of our pastors used this same metaphor the Sunday morning the Superbowl was to be played, and it really applies. He spoke about watching tapes of the opponents playing, checking out the condition of the field, the weather report, habits of their coaching staff in planning, executing, and reacting to certain plays, the health of the key players, etc. All of these are important to insure the greatest chance for a victory. That is why this message is in a way an introduction to the next segment of this series which will be on Satan's origin. Now, let's look at the "combat intelligence" we can gain from GN 3: 1-15.
GN 3: 1, "Now the serpent was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The serpent asked the woman, 'Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?'" Cunning and sly, that's the devil to a tee! While I can't read the serpent's mind, I have faith that he knew all along that God had told Eve and Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit. When we read about the serpent's origin, we will see that God didn't create him to be stupid at all. We can take comfort that none of God's creations are as smart as He is, which is why the short description of the Bible is "God wins; the devil loses." J (Just because we know that is no excuse, however, for not taking the time and effort to put daily study of the Bible as a priority in our lives). When Eve told the serpent that they could eat anything in the garden except the fruit from the tree of life, the adversary listened carefully to the last part of her sentence in (3), "if we do, we will die." The serpent's response in (4-5) reveals the heart of what has always been his problem, his belief that he can assume God's power or even be more powerful than God. That is what the Greeks call "hubris" or pride. God addresses Himself to that very issue through Solomon in PR 16: 18, "Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall." GN 3: 4-5, The serpent replied, 'That is not true; you will not die. God said that because He knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad.'" Talk about blasphemy, there it is for all the faithful to see!
We see in (4-5) a beautiful example of how the evil one tries to trick and deceive us. As I see it, our only real defense is to know God and take Him at His word. Eve didn't, which is why she is willing to believe the adversaries prideful, arrogant lie. The other aspect to the serpent's behavior is his undying desire to bring others to the same destruction he will one day suffer. This hateful attitude leads to his willingness to tempt us. Eve didn't have God's full spiritual armor that we can access to fend off the adversary. So in (6), the original sin is committed. Sin is pernicious and it spreads, just as Eve's sin spread to Adam, who also didn't have God's full spiritual armor.
Spiritual immaturity is really seen on Eve's part in (13) after God asks her, "Why did you do this?" Listen to her answer. "The serpent tricked me into eating it." A mature person in faith would have said, "Father, I have sinned. Because my faith in You wasn't strong and I wasn't obedient, I decided to give in to the temptation and eat the forbidden fruit. I am sorry for what I did." Can you imagine how different mankind's history might have been if Eve and Adam had been willing to take responsibility for their own actions and to repent of them? That's food for reflection, isn't it?
We know from (14) that God decided to bring judgment down on the serpent. "The Lord God said to the serpent, 'You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.'" And that very important announcement of the conflict between mankind and evil, the Protevangelium, follows in GN 3: 15, "I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel." Mankind will be tormented to pain and suffering by the devil, but will eventually with God's help, defeat him. So just from this one passage, GN 3: 1-15, we have learned that Satan is cunning, sly, deceives, lies, tempts, tricks people, was punished by God, hates mankind, will eventually be crushed by mankind (with God's help) and will cause mankind much pain and suffering. And this, Dear Ones, is only the beginning of the "combat intelligence" God gives us in the Scriptures about the adversary.
PRAYER: You keep bringing me back to David's eloquent plea in PS 31: 3-5, "You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the trap that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." We know, Loving Abba, who set that trap for David, the same one who sets his traps for us. It is Satan. What David expresses in this plea is true. You are the only One Who can properly arm us and guide us in our battle against the enemy. It is by Your grace that we are saved from his hatred, deception, trickery, and evil. When You sent Your Son to the cross for us and gave us the Holy Spirit, You did Your part. Our part is to be obedient to You and to trust You, even when it is difficult for us and/or we don't fully understand Your commands. So that we could know Your attributes and see how You act to bring blessings and protection into our lives, You gave us your word and prayer. We acknowledge that we must take responsibility for our thoughts and actions, that we must live by Your laws, that no other source can provide us with the love, faithfulness, and refuge that You can. You deserve our loyalty, diligence, adoration, worship, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. We bow our heads in prayer before You today to offer You all these things along with our pledge that we will face our spiritual warfare with courage and confidence in You. You are our One and Only God, and we are filled with joy to be Your people! In Christ's name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will begin a new segment of this series on spiritual warfare entitled "Satan's Origin." We need to know who the devil really is and from whence he came. A remarkable number of Scriptures when studied reveal this to us. That's our loving Abba being faithful to us, or we wouldn't have them available to us. Each day, He reveals to me (and I hope to you as well) even more demonstrations of His wonderful and dynamic love for us. It is both dynamic (active) and very present in every aspect of a believer's life. I recommend an modification of an idea I got from reading "Lightposts For Living," the wonderful book by the "painter of light," Thomas Kinkade. He called this a "glow book." In his case, he and his wife, Nanette, kept a daily record of beautiful things from God they saw in their lives. Then, they would share them with each other. I suggest we make an on-going list of ways God shows us His love each day and share them. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn