The wily serpent began his attack asking Eve: “Did God really say ...?” Satan’s question was designed to implant the suspicion that God was holding out on them, that God had maliciously misled them, and therefore could not be trusted. They would then be open to explore elsewhere for the good things in life.
Eve was eventually hoodwinked, believing that eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would provide all sorts of fantastic benefits—it would be “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” (This all took place before any “Truth-in-advertising” laws had been passed!) God’s warning about the deathly consequences from eating the fruit could not be trusted.
This has always been the Enemy’s goal—to destroy our trust in the complete goodness. But believing in the undiluted goodness of God is essential for our “moral sanity.” It’s chilling to think that God might have a mixture of good and evil motives toward us.
A.W. Tozer believes that “the whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us.”
But what happens when we sin? when, like Adam and Eve, we try to hide from God? Our great, good God comes searching for us in the back alleys of life. He knows that if left alone, we will utterly destroy ourselves.
Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, the all-powerful God of the universe is working for my good! And if I pursue an obedient relationship with Him, I will experience that unending, unlimited goodness. (See Psalm 118,136)
Assignment for October 8:
Gen.4:1-16
1.What do we learn about sin? temptation?
2.Why was Abel’s offering accepted and Cain’s rejected?
3.Analyze God’s advice to Cain.
Gen.6:1-22
1.Describe the condition of Noah’s world.
2.Why did God judge the world so harshly?
3.What kind of a man was Noah?
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