Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (3:1)
And 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. (3: 8)
Eve showed no surprise at the serpent’s conversation with her—it would seem that animals communicating with humans wasn’t strange. She was in a wonderful garden with animals in it and one enticed her with some lies mixed with truth.
The more I read God’s Word, the more I encounter truth, the more I am able to distinguish truth from lies, even when they are mixed up together.
Note that the automatic reaction to sin is to hide. And even if we’re not the ones to hide, it seems that when we have unconfessed sin, there is a barrier between us and God. Many years ago, I did something that I knew my husband wouldn’t have wanted me to do. It wasn’t sin, but I know my husband, and I knew he wouldn’t have wanted me to do this thing. When I tried to pray, I felt that my prayers were hitting the ceiling (as in not getting through to God). When I confessed to my husband, in other words, brought my action into the light, it restored my fellowship with God.
Prayer: Lord, help me not to listen to any voices that tell me things contrary to Your Word! Help me to recognize the voices which are false, whether they come from media, entertainment, other places in our society, or even dear friends or family members, or my own thoughts. Keep me true to Your Word. And when I sin, Lord, help me to be quick to confess it to you, rather than to keep away from you. Thank You that when we confess our sin you forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness! (1 John 1: 9)
