SWEET LITTLE LIES

My early childhood days took place in the 1980's. I had 3 teenage sisters which meant I saw and heard a lot of the following: Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise movies, many Benetton and Forenza clothing shopping excursions at the mall, and an abundance of 80's music! One of the more popular songs of the decade made its debut in 1987 called, "Tell Me Lies," by Fleetwood Mac. I can't help but think of this classic whenever I read through Genesis chapter 3. So many "sweet little lies" are deeply entrenched by Satan. Adam and Eve took the bait and we as believers are still following in their footsteps today.

"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 of 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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked . . . (Genesis 3:1-7a)."

This short study is by no means exhaustive so we're just going to look at a small sample in this survey. Let's start in verse 5. Did you see the subtlety of Satan? (What else is new, right?) Get this; Satan is trying to sell Eve on the premise that he knows more about what God says, than God Himself! Watch what Satan says: "...For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Insert "laugh emoji" here. Never listen to what Satan says about God! He'll twist and turn the path until it looks "kind of" Biblical but instead takes a sharp 90-degree turn right off a ginormous, rocky Pacific Coast Highway cliff. Furthermore, Eve doesn't do herself any favors in verse 3 when she responded to Satan: "...but God did say... you must not touch it..."

Let's take a look at what God ACTUALLY said back in chapter 2, verse 16-17, shall we? "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Do you see how easy it is to misconstrue God's Word, just a little? Messing with God's Word AT ALL spells death and destruction.

Look at another mischievous "little lie." Verse 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." As believers, don't we easily mirror Eve by looking for pleasure and satisfaction in all the wrong places, places that'll never satisfy? 1 John 2:16 states: "For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world." Additionally, where does the wisdom Eve was seeking in verse 6 come from? Proverbs 1:7 states: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Here's another lie that comes right at the beginning of our text. Satan says to Eve: "Did God really say..." This one has trapped me many times. How about you, believer? Just "slightly" doubting what God says is like this: You are in the grocery store and find a perfect looking Washington State red delicious apple. It's shiny. It's a glorious, glowing red shaded color. It looks tasty. But, you turn it around only to find a little tiny hole where a worm has eaten its way inside. When we question God, we turn His precious promises on their head. We forfeit the intimacy that transpires in our souls when we breathe in the purity of His infallible Word. When we question God we lose.