Confusion, Doubt, and Self-Exultation….

Here’s a thought I bet most people have never run through their minds: Satan tempts us by creating doubt or offering self-exaltation. In the Garden of Eden Adam was told (before Eve existed) that he could eat from every tree except from one, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So when Eve came along, Adam must have told her about the rule. I’m basing this theory on what scripture says, and it may not be accurate, because God may have told Eve about the tree, but since it’s not mentioned, I continue with this theory. Satan (the serpent) began a conversation with Eve. Why not tempt Adam? I don’t know, but maybe because Eve had only heard about the rule from Adam and not God Himself, that would make her more vulnerable than Adam. Anyway, Satan manipulates Eve by twisting the words of this mandate. Notice his words, “Did God really say...”. He gets Eve thinking in a certain way, then hits her with the temptation that she didn’t see coming. Satan then tells Eve that she won’t die if she eats from the tree. Then he drops the A-bomb (self-exaltation) of temptations, “you will be like God”. Temptations are all the same, confusion, doubt, and finally self-exaltation (or pleasure). They just might be disguised in different clothing. Just because we have never had a face to face conversation with God doesn’t mean what we’ve been taught by other believers, by scripture itself, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, or by life’s circumstances doesn’t mean we should allow temptation to create a mindset that makes us vulnerable to doubt, confusion, and self-exaltation. Staying plugged into to Jesus (the Vine) guarantees us spiritual discernment when it comes to temptation. It’s just one more reason to continue pursuing God. When we stumble, we need to get up and continue down the path God has laid out for us. If we don’t, we might just experience what Adam and Eve did, getting kicked out of the garden forever. Just think all the problems of the world started because of one couple’s decision to give into temptation. My question is was it worth it?

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”10 He replied, “I heard You walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”12 The man replied, “It was the woman You gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursedmore than all animals, domestic and wild.You will crawl on your belly,groveling in the dust as long as you live.15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her Offspring.He will strike your head,and you will strike His heel.” 16 Then He said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,and in pain you will give birth.And you will desire to control your husband,but he will rule over you.” 17 And to the man He said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the treewhose fruit I commanded you not to eat,the ground is cursed because of you.All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,though you will eat of its grains.19 By the sweat of your browwill you have food to eatuntil you return to the groundfrom which you were made.For you were made from dust,and to dust you will return.” Paradise Lost: God’s Judgment 20 Then the man–Adam–named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. 21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.22 Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like Us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” 23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and He sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And He placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:1-24