The Shadow of Doubt

Genesis 3:1-13 NASB

(1)  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

(2)  The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

(3)  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

(4)  The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!

(5)  "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

(6)  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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

(7)  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

(8)  They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

(9)  Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

(10)  He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

(11)  And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

(12)  The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

(13)  Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Satan’s strategy was to distort God’s Word and sow a seed of doubt in Eve. He knows that any lie is better when it is seasoned with a little truth.  Notice that he asked Eve, has God forbidden you to eat from all the trees.  As Satan played on Eve’s need for pity, it is easy to see that she is taking the bait.  She replies God said we could eat from every tree except the tree of life.  We cannot even touch that tree or we will die.  Well this is the opening that Satan needed to reel Eve in.  He replies you will not surely die!  Satan had overstated God’s Word and Eve overstated God’s Word.  God did not say what they said He did.  How many times does this happen in our lives today?  Now when Eve touched the fruit and nothing happened it caused her to doubt if anything would happen if she went further.  We all know the results.

Satan is still doing the same thing today; he places that small seed of doubt in our minds and uses a little bit of God’s Word to season his lies.  The good news for Christians is we never have to doubt God’s Word.  If we learn this lesson we will have a great weapon to use against Satan when he tries to cause of us to doubt what God says.  Put these verses to memory and use them against Satan.

Romans 8:38-39 NASB

(38)  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

(39)  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is good, all the time and all the time God is Good.

Tell someone about Jesus.