For God knows...

Scripture:

Genesis 3:4-5 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Observation:

Why does Satan tempt us? Temptation is Satan's invitation to give in to his kind of life and give up on God's kind of life. Satan tempted Eve and succeeded in getting her to sin. Ever since then, he's been busy getting people to sin. He even tempted Jesus (Mathew 4:1-11). But Jesus did not sin!

How could Eve have resisted temptation? By following the same guidelines we can follow. First, we must realize that being tempted is not a sin. We have not sinned until we give in to the temptation. Then, to resist temptation, we must (1) pray for strength to resist, (2) run, sometimes literally, and (3) say no when confronted with what we know is wrong. James 1:12 tells of the blessings and rewards for those who don't give in when tempted.

The serpent, Satan, tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God's goodness. He implied that God was strict, stingy, and selfish for not wanting Eve to share his knowledge of good and evil. Satan made Eve forget all that God had given her and, instead, focus on what God had forbidden. We fall into trouble, too, when we dwell on what God forbids rather than on the countless blessings and promises God has given us. The next time you are feeling sorry for yourself and what you don't have, consider all you do have and thank God. Then your doubts won't lead you into sin.

Application:

I wanted to come back to this verse today. Once again, we see satan trying to get Eve to doubt God's goodness, His kindness. If God didn't really care about Eve, then why would she concern herself with doing what God wanted her to do?

He told Eve that God knows that this would bless her, and make her a better person "your eyes will be open" to see things that you can't see now. In other words, "you disobey God, because He's trying to keep something from you." He goes on, "in fact you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan always paints a beautiful picture. Here the picture was that it was satan, and not God, who really cared about her. That she would be better off going against God's Word than obeying it. He let her know that "she would see things differently if she just knew the entire truth."

The enemy continues to do the same thing today: "God knows... what your going through. If He cared He would have already done something about it!" "His Word isn't really something you can count on, do your own thing." "God is too busy to be concerned about you, he has too many other things to do and more important people to spend His time with!" All of these are attempts to get you to not trust Your loving, compassionate, patient, merciful, faithful God.

God says vengenace is mine, I will repay. But satan lies to try to cause us to think we can "become like God by seeking revenge." God says, "dont worry about tomorrow, i have this covered" and satan attempts to make us think if anything is going to happen it's going to have to be us, because God hasn't done anything yet, so we take it from God's hands, and follow the lie of the enemy that we "can be like God" and have sleepless nights carrying the very burden that God says He wanted from us.

The enemy of our soul attacked the truth of God's Word in the garden of Eden, and he has been doing the same thing ever since. Let me give you a few examples:

"God is a healer" is absolute truth. But the enemy wants to change that to relative truth and say, "He only heals certain ones that He really cares about, and that isn't you."

"God cares about You"-absolute truth. Satan twists it to say, "if He really cared, He wouldn't be holding this back from you."

"Don't seek vengeance, I've got this covered" absolute truth. Satan attacks this truth and tells you that God won't do a good enough job of paying back so you need to get involved with gossip, backbiting, lying to pay them back what they deserve!

I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that I didnt get what I deserve. I fail God often. Let Him down. But His grace is more than sufficient. Where sin abounds...Grace much more abounds.

God truly cares for you. Don't allow the enemy to manipulate your emotions and the Holy Word to say to you things that God has not said to you. Walk in the Spirit, and refuse to say one word without filtering it through soul searching prayer and Holy Ghost direction. Then you will keep God on the throne of your life, and NOT self!

Prayer:

"Lord I am so thankful that You care for me. Oh yes, the enemy often attempts to tell me differently, but he is a liar. He attempts to paint a lovely picture, but the picture is based in lies. I do not want to used by the devil to bring destruction, pain, or hurt to anyone. I want to help build your church, not tear it down. To help build, I must be reminded that God, you truly are GOOD, kind, patient, and faithful. Thank you again Lord, in Jesus' name, amen!"