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’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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. – Genesis 3:1-6
The enemy of our soul is very clever. He knows our weaknesses and he knows the right time to strike. Regardless of how developed we are in the faith, he has a way of tempting us in the same way you will tempt a rabbit by dangling a carrot in front of it. When we ignore his first attempt, he keeps coming at us over and over again with the same tempting idea. I have no doubts that Eve tried her best to stay clear of the forbidden fruit but Satan did not give up until he got his way. Eve knew the rules; she understood God’s instructions but the enemy was able to turn the whole thing around. He undermined God’s instructions and made it seem that God was trying to keep the knowledge of good and evil from them. He made it seem as if there was a huge power that they were entitled to but that God was trying to keep for himself.
Eve allowed the enemy to divert her attention from all the other trees they could eat from onto the one tree God said they were not to touch. Isn’t it amazing how Satan works? He messes with our mind and our thinking such that we forget all the wonderful blessings that we currently have and focus on what we don’t have. We begin to focus on all the temptations instead on God and His Word. If we hang around temptation long enough, Satan encourages us to cut corners and creates the perfect game plan for us to go against the will of God for our lives.
If truth be told, we all experience some element of doubt from time to time – just in varying degrees. Satan capitalizes on those short spells of doubt and with Eve, he makes her start to doubt God and his instructions about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The doubt in her heart gave way to disobedience and she succumbed. She ended up not only eating the fruit, giving some to her husband to eat as well!
The enemy always has a game plan to destroy the children of God. He has no other purpose on earth but to cause us to stumble and fall. Preferably, he would like that we never get up. But God is merciful and full of grace. He picks us up, dusts us off and gives us a chance to start over. If you have been tempted and deceived by Satan and you are struggling with guilt and shame, come to God for comfort. Only He has the power to make all things new.
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