Deception at it Best

Genesis 3:1-5

I have good memories of my mother and her many accomplishments, but mother was very different from most of the other mothers that we were around at school or church.  Mother and dad never drank any alcohol, and to mother ginger ale was off limits for the family, I can only imagine the reason, and my best guess is that she had seen an advertisement showing it being used with alcohol.  Mother also would not let my sister wear shorts of any kind, not even in gym class, but my brother and I could wear them in gym or playing tennis.  In many ways she was overly protective, particularly with my sister.

When we were young, up to our teens, both my brother and sister who are older seemed to obey and go by mother’s rules, even though it often made them seem strange to their friends.  But I was the baby of the family and from a young age began to learn the art of deception; I believe that is the practice of deliberately making somebody (Mother) believe things that are not true.  It began in the second grade, mother would ask the question, “Bobby do you have homework?” and my answer would be, “I did it at school.”  That lie would allow me to play till dark, and then at bedtime I would say, “I forgot, I need to turn in this paper in the morning,” and I still do not understand how this action was allowed to be repeated on a very regular basic.

Deceptive, or you might say I was a crafty little rascal; clever at achieving my desires by indirect or deceitful methods, and that puts me in good standing with none other that Satan himself.  In chapter three we have the account of Eve trying to stand toe to toe with that old ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and she was totally out of her league.  “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had make.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”  And 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 midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die,’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely 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.”

Exaggeration is often used to make a point, and often it is used when a person feels the need to convince the other person, that is what Eve tried on the serpent, But that is not what God said, look at Genesis 2:16,17, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.”  I’m sure Eve is feeling a little over matched and so she adds, “neither shall you touch it.”  Eve is trying to go toe to toe with the Devil but she does not know that the serpent is the devil, and we have history to tell us she did not fare well in this match of wits.

The enemy of our soul is very crafty, he is an “Arch Deceiver,” he has no concern for “truth”, and he is a liar and the father of lies.  In Genesis 3:5, he tells Eve that God lies; in Matthew 4:6 he misuses the Scripture; in 2 Corinthians 2:11, we are warned by the apostle Paul that he has cunning plans for each of us; also we are warned that he will come to us as an angel of light, 2 Corinthians 11:14.  We must do what our Lord did when He encountered the devil, Jesus told him,  “It is written.”

From the Back Porch,