Proverbs 3:5-8 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh,And strength to your bones. The story of Adam and Eve teaches many lessons and raises many questions. One of those questions for me is, why did Eve bite that apple. She is in direct communion with God who has provided all that she and her husband need. Can you imagine a world where you are surrounded by creatures that we have never even laid eyes on because so many are extinct, but in danger from none? Marveling at His creation while spending your days communing with God and your spouse? My husband and I dream of a life that we can have a homestead on few acres where we can grow our own food. Fruit trees, vegetable gardens, chickens running around free and a cow to milk. We want to have a large multi purpose building for holding church services. Live close to running water for baptisms and have a separate house on the property for missionaries or brothers and sisters who need help. Boiled down, we desire Eden. We have met many Christians with a similar desire. It seems hardwired into our being. A life focused on God and surrounded by His creation with an opportunity to serve. What could be better than that? They had it and tossed it away... Why? It is easy to shake your head at Eve, but let's look at the anatomy of the "fall." In Genesis 3 the cunning serpent asks Eve about the fruit of this tree. "Did God indeed say you can not eat of every tree?" She responds accordingly that God told her she would die if she touched or ate from it. The serpent continues his campaign by undermining her trust in God by declaring what God has said is not true, God just doesn't want you to be wise like Him... She took the fruit and ate it. It wasn't exactly a hard sell. Eve's lust for things became greater than her love for God. She had also stopped trusting Him. Trust had to go before obedience. It seems a good practice to daily ask ourselves, am I fully trusting God? How do we know if we are? Obedience to His word. The serpent certainly deceived Eve as she asserted, but her lack of faith/trust in God allowed her to be deceived. She started trusting other things over God's word. The tree wasn't going anywhere. Why didn't she just ask God? Trust was gone. What might tempt us to trust others over God? Taxes/accountant, Trouble/lawyer, problems at home/friends who are not Christ centered and so many other ways. We can have many serpents in our lives. We need to remember the Lord teaches in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that bad company corrupts good character. When possible, we should try to be in fellowship with people that are of the same spirit. We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and lean not on our own understanding. Trust in God is vitally important. Perhaps that is why our forefathers made "In God we trust" the official motto of the USA and even had it printed on our currency. Perhaps it is to remind the people of this country that our hope, faith and trust must be in God. I hope this study has been a blessing to you. Thoughts and comments are welcome!
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