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 certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” - Genesis 3:1-5
In this scripture, we are given some background about the serpent. The scripture says he is more crafty than any of the other animals. This sets the tone that we are going to have trouble. The scripture tells us that the devil is trouble, so why does God people hold converstations and debates with him?
He then approaches the woman and begins to have a conversation with her. He asked, "Did God really say...". This question is expressed in a way that is trying to call for doubt, or maybe to have the person question the instruction they have received. The woman responded but she added something to God's Word. When she answered she put in that God said you should not touch it or you will die.
Eve's first mistake was listening to the serpent. As soon as he began to question her about God, she should have stopped the conversation. In fact, how natural was it for her to be having a conversation with the animals in this way?
Eve allowed the enemy to deceive her and she had what I call the "Eve Complex". She entertained a conversation with the serpent and in doing so, he began to make her turn her attention to the one tree she was forbidden to have and in doing so, she lost sight of all the other trees available to her. Remember she was in the garden. This is not like your backyard with a few trees, think more of a vast grove of trees upon trees. From all these different trees she could take and eat.
We sometimes have the Eve Complex ourselves. We allow the enemy to draw our focus to that one "tree" we don't have and therefore, we take our focus off the fact that we are living in the abundance of God.
We also should learn from Eve that as soon as the enemy see that we don't really understand the Word, he is ready to attack. In this instance Eve had been told the command, but somewhere along the way she changed it. She added her interpretation to it. When you and I add our own understanding or interpretation to the Word of God, the enemy is ready to attack us and trick us into sinning.
We must not entertain any conversations with the enemy. When he comes and ask us "did God really say..." we are to quickly rebuke him because we know he is trying to trick us.
Prayer: Lord help us to see the tricks of the enemy as he tries to deceive us and in doing so we begin to doubt your Word. Help us combat the enemy with your truth when he brings lies or questions your authority and your power. Help us to flee from him so that we do not become deceived into seeing the one thing we don't have and miss the bounty of what we have available to us. Amen.
