The Big Lie

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In His grace, God gives us guidance and guardrails to safeguard us from harm. All He wants is for us to thrive—so He blesses us with commandments that help us truly flourish. In the garden, God gave Adam and Eve one simple rule: to abstain from eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the end, they refused to trust that following God’s command was in their best interest. 

We like to think that Adam and Eve were extraordinarily foolish. After all, how difficult is it to avoid eating fruit from one specific tree? But despite what we might like to think, we are just like Adam and Eve. Every day, we buy into the same sinister lies that led them to disobey God and doubt His goodness.

Let’s take a moment to read Genesis 3:1-7:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

REFLECT

The enemy, in his shrewdness, led Eve to question what God had commanded. Today, the enemy still tricks us into doubting and discarding what God has spoken to us. Many of us search Scripture for direct mandates against the sin we are wrestling with, assuming that if there is no exacting provision against it, we are in the clear. Others of us hunt for reasons to toss out Bible passages that convict us or make us squirm. Even though we know in our hearts that what we are doing is wrong, the enemy prompts us to ask, Did God really say…? 

After Eve recounted the command she and Adam were given, the serpent fed them yet another lie: that their sin wouldn’t be costly. The enemy loves to convince us that there are no real or dire consequences when we choose to disobey God’s loving commands. Too often, we refuse to acknowledge the true ramifications of our selfish choices. We deny the extent to which our sin patterns affect our spiritual, emotional, mental, fiscal, and relational health. But God doesn’t give us rules to boss us around or limit what we can do—He commands us to follow in His ways to protect us and make us whole. 

The enemy further sweetened his sin sales-pitch by promising Adam and Eve that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would become “like God.” The irony is that God had already created them in His image (Genesis 1:27). In countless ways, Adam and Eve were already like God: they could reason, dream, create, govern, and communicate. But the enemy convinced them that they didn’t have what they’d already been given, and they needed to search for it on their own. We are told the same lie today. We already have peace, joy, and satisfaction in Christ Jesus. However, the enemy convinces us that we are lacking what we need and desire most. As a result, we search for contentment where it cannot be found. 

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they became aware of their nakedness. When humans first sinned, we gained the capacity to feel ashamed before God. But God never wanted us to feel separated from Him. He never wanted us to feel the need to hide from Him. So, in His grace, God has given us a way to stand before Him unashamed, despite our depravity: by accepting what Christ has done for us. 

The story of The Fall sheds light on the lie that underlies all human sin: that God is withholding goodness from us. The enemy convinces us that God is keeping something from us—something that will fulfill us and please our souls more than He can. But God doesn’t want to withhold any good thing from us, and He proved it by giving up His perfect Son to die on our behalf (Romans 8:32)!

RESPOND

Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read. 

• What do you feel like God is withholding from you? How can you trust that He has already met your deepest needs and fulfilled your true desires? 

REST

Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying: 

Lord God, thank You for granting us a way to stand before You unashamed, despite our brokenness. Thank You for forgiving us and extending us grace after grace, even when we choose to buy into the lies of the enemy. Lord, help us to catch ourselves when we start to believe that You are withholding goodness from us. Let us trust that You give us all that we need and desire, and that Your commands are given for our best interest. Remind us that true freedom and contentment is found when we live under Your rule. Amen.

Port City writer Kate Redenbaugh wrote today’s devotional.