Satan’s greatest weapon is
to assassinate God’s character, and make you doubt His integrity. If Satan can make you doubt God’s fundamental
honesty, then the words that fall from His lips are questionable. If the words God
has uttered are suspect, then His Word is suspect. Satan always tries to make God less of who He
is. Belittling God and His Word is first
nature to him. For God’s Word is Who God
is and vice versa. God speaks from His
character, and His character directs what He says.
Satan’s character is also represented by what he
says, and what he says emanates from his character.
Let’s look at Satan’s tactics in Genesis
3:1-13. Satan has not changed throughout
the ages as to how he operates with human beings. His interactions with human beings started on
this very note of questioning what God says and therefore Who He is.
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God
said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of
the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst
the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam,
and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast
naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat.
Let’s walk back into the Garden to
the scene of the crime.
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Snakes are subtle. They slither into place stealthily. They
hide. They strike with lightning speed. They are deadly. They blend in and then
seem to materialize out of nowhere as they start moving. Is it any wonder that Satan choose a snake to
hide in and talk to Eve through? The
snake piqued Eve’s curiosity. Right out of the gate, Satan comes swinging. He questions what God said. God said that Adam could “freely eat” of all
the trees but one. So, right off, Satan
twists what God said.
Satan also goes after Eve. Adam got his
information straight from God Himself; Adam told Eve. So, should Eve have verified what she heard
from Adam by asking God Himself? Yes.
Adam was sincere in what he said.
Perhaps he didn’t quote to Eve everything exactly as God has said. Sometimes we
are wrong just enough to trip someone up, including ourselves. This is why we must individually pursue the
Word and not rely on others for what it says.
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden:
Eve is quoting this portion
right: “And
the Lord God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat…”
(Gen. 2:16) Obviously Adam told her and
she remembered what he said. But up to a
point. Did Adam review God’s words with
Eve periodically? To review God’s Word
means to renew His Word in our hearts. Psalm
119:10-11 says, "With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander
from thy commandments. Thy word have I
hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." That’s good advice but it is rarely followed.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.
God originally says in
Genesis 2:17: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die."
She got most of what God had said correct. But, she adds to God’s words, “nor shall you
touch it.” Where is that in God’s
instructions? Did she get that from
Adam, or is she being overly confident in what she thinks she knows? But that error opens a door into which Satan slithers. If she is overly confident, that is pride.
Pride says, I got this. Satan, whose own fall was due to pride, is truly like a pit
viper. Pit vipers have an infrared
sensor on top of their heads, so they can sense heat coming from prey. Satan senses pride wherever he goes, and
zeroes in on Eve’s statement.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Satan is calling God a liar. God did indeed say that death would be the
result of eating from that one tree; Satan immediately pounces on the last few
words of Eve’s, which were the last few words of God’s. The last were the most important, so in
satanic logic, they must be made null and void.
Satan
is saying this prohibition is not true.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Then Satan “reveals” the
“real” reason that God prohibited the eating of the fruit: not death, but equality. In other words, only God wants to be God and
thus He is selfishly guarding this position for Himself. He wants no competition in the divine realm. According to this satanic logic, that is why
He put a good scare into Adam and Eve by saying they would die if they ate that
fruit. Adam and Eve don’t know what death is (death is the result
of sin, and they have not sinned yet) but they need to trust God’s words and
obey. Why? Because He loves and
treasures them. But Satan insinuates that God isn’t looking out for them but
is concealing something that they deserve.
Satan says that death won’t happen, but the knowledge of good and evil
will be theirs, and it will make them like God.
Adam and Eve don’t know what good or evil is any more than
they know what death is, but now Eve is wondering about God’s motive. She may be thinking: Why is
God not letting us be like Him? Why, if
He loves us, has He not allowed us all the fruit in the garden? If He is good, everything here is good. Knowing this good and evil thing must be
good, too. Why is He not letting us have
this good thing? The poison is slowly but surely working.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her; and he did eat.
Satan has stopped
talking. But Eve has not stopped
thinking. Just the mere thought that Eve
is “missing out” on something is intriguing to her. Why?
Go back to pride: If you believe
that you are smart, nice, kind, or brilliant enough to have it all, and then you
find out that something is missing, well, just take it! Eve may be thinking: If God is holding out on you, then you
deserve to know because you are,
well, YOU! God made it clear to Adam:
The Garden is yours to tend and keep; one tree is forbidden; death will
come if you are disobedient and life will continue if you are obedient. God presented Adam both paths and their
consequences. Adam relayed this to Eve but
the suggestion that she was missing something (that she thought she deserved)
made her look harder at the tree and its fruit. Perhaps she is pondering: It looks tasty, looks pretty and promises wisdom. How could something so right be so
wrong? Satan has shifted her attention from God’s word to her
contemplation of the forbidden object. Her focus is on the immediate, tangible object at hand; not
on some spoken prohibition given to her husband by Someone whose words are now suspect
anyway. She grabs a bite, hands it off
to Adam and nothing immediately happens, except laughter from the tree.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons.
Yes, their eyes are opened,
but not to a whole new world of divine knowledge. They see each other as naked, and what once
caused pleasure and delight now causes shame.
The world looks different. No
longer is it a garden filled with God’s presence and wonder; now, it is too
spacious. God could happen upon them at
any moment; shame drives them to hide. Somehow, like a small child, we think if we close our eyes
or go into the dark, the world can’t see us.
We run from the very One Who longs to forgive our sin and reunite with
us. He wants His light to be always
shining in our hearts.
Adam and Eve’s world is no longer centered on God and His
fellowship, abundance and love. They hid
thinking: If He can’t see us and our shame, we are safe. But the darkness is
never safe. That is where the snake
hides.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
They hear God’s voice. Despite
trying to hide from one another (using fig leaves) and from God (in the shadows
under the trees) they could still hear God. God will never stop calling us. If He has to walk right up to the very gates
of hell looking for us, He will.
And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto
him, Where art thou?
“Where are you?” God knows.
Adam knows. The “where” is not
just a location but a state of the heart. God immediately knows the fellowship is
now broken. Death has already started
because sin has started. Adam and Eve’s
praise has turned to fear. Breaking the law means (even if we get away with it at
first) we are always looking over our shoulder.
Or hiding.
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Why would Adam’s nakedness be
a cause to hide? The Word says, "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are
defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is
defiled." (Titus 1:15) Jesus
said, "Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they will see God." (Matt. 5:8) Their hearts ruined by rebellion, Adam and Eve’s eyes
are now capable of seeing darkness. Before their rebellion, all they beheld was
light: God’s face, their own innocence and the sunlight streaming into the
garden. The darkness now crowded out the light and they hid
where they felt comfortable: in the
darkness, away from God, and unable to see each other. Fear—that drawing back when someone feels
shame—left the garden silent and empty. God knows why His children have withdrawn. He wants them to say out loud why they are
absent. Adam’s words portray the state
of his heart: "A good man brings good things out of the good
stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil
stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
(Luke 6:45)
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou
eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
God does not
condemn His children. He knows the
answers to the questions before He even begins.
He wants Adam to connect his actions to the results. Adam’s actions replaced innocence with
insinuation, freedom with fear, and communion with condemnation. God looks for Adam, even though He knows
the state he is in. He still does the
same today.
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Adam is truly now on the Dark Side. He is ungrateful (“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me”); he denies personal responsibility (“she gave me of the tree”); and he denies having any choice in the matter (“and I did eat.”)
God does not lie:
God does not punish you:
God does not hold yesterday with its failures against you: It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (Lam. 3:22-3)
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this
that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did
eat.
God lovingly confronts Eve.
She is on the Dark Side as well. She
denies any personal responsibility (“The serpent beguiled [deceived] me”) and
she denies having any choice in the matter (“and I did eat”). So sad for her and her children.
Satan
is a liar. Thus, any claim he makes
about God is false. Here are some verses to S.T.A.N.D. on (Spiritually Trained And Not Defeated) and declare what God
is not:
God is not insincere in what
He says, for He is Truth, Light and true to His Word:
- But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:13 NIV)
- I am the Way, the Truth and the Life… (John 14:6)
- This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
- Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
- I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. (John 8:26)
God does not lie:
- Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Prov. 30:5)
- God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Num. 23:19)
- And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent. (1 Sam. 15:29)
- To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Ps. 92:15)
- For I am the Lord, I change not… (Mal. 3:6)
- Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. (Rom. 3:4)
- In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began... (Titus 1:2)
- [I]t is impossible for God to lie... (Heb. 6:18)
- For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Ps. 84:11)
- Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
God does not wound you like an earthly
father can:
Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of a man,
with bonds of love,
And I became to them as one who lifts
the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and fed them. (Hosea
11:3-4)
God does not ignore your suffering:
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. (Is. 40:27-31)
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. (Is. 40:27-31)
God does not tempt you:
- No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Cor. 10:13)
- Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:12-15)
God does not punish you:
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust. (Ps. 103:10-14)
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust. (Ps. 103:10-14)
God does not discipline you out of anger:
- I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. (Rev. 3:19)
- Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:7-11)
Done. God’s character is illustrated by what He
says and does. Satan’s character is illustrated by what he says
and does. The lies about God are just that: lies. Stand on His Word,
not Satan’s accusations. I rest my case.
Excerpted from S.T.A.N.D. Spiritually Trained And Not Defeated: Our Position in Christ, Our Mission in Christ A Handbook on Spiritual Warfare. Buy it on Amazon.
Excerpted from S.T.A.N.D. Spiritually Trained And Not Defeated: Our Position in Christ, Our Mission in Christ A Handbook on Spiritual Warfare. Buy it on Amazon.
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