LESSONS FROM EVE!

LESSONS FROM EVE!

DISCLAIMER

1. This writing has not been endorsed by any Church or Church Leaders that I may or may not be affiliated too.

2. I am a ‘Learner’. Please you may want to have this at the back of your mind as you read. Hence, conduct your own study and meditation.

And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? Gen 3: 1

This question marked the beginning of an unholy conversation initiated by that subtle and crafty devil with the innocent and unsuspecting Eve. People say that it is not good to answer a question with a question. Perhaps, at this time maybe it would have helped Eve to ask the serpent who he was and how he came about that question? Maybe, even give the answer that is typical to some Nigerians – ‘go and ask the person that gave you that information and don’t disturb me!’ Because hidden in the question is the fact that the devil knew the truth. I have met some classic gossipers in my life, and it is the same way the devil asked this question that they too begin to initiate their gossipy conversation. Guess what? If you give them a tough answer, they will say ‘ahn ahn, can’t somebody even play with you!! LOL.

Okay, seriously now, looking at this question we can see that it is the beginning of the process of the devil trying to engage Eve’s mind. And she responded correctly. She responded with the word of God. “We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden, Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” Gen 3: 2 -3.

#Lesson 1: Always respond to the questions the devil may ask with the Word of God. The same Jesus did when he also was tempted of the devil in Matt 4: 3 – 10.

#Lesson 2: The devil usually uses what is on the outside, to try to create doubt on the inside. Same thing he did with Jesus see Matt 4: 3 -10.

#Lesson 3: Be ready to always correct people using the Word of God when they have the wrong information concerning the things of God. Am not talking about arguing! Say what you know and let the ‘Two edged Sword’ which is the Word (Heb 4: 12), work.

#Lesson 4: If Eve had a Bible, it would consist only of Genesis 1&2. Compare this with what we have today and I think it is fair to say we can be better prepared and armed for the devil’s tempting.

#Lesson 5: Why didn’t the devil ask Adam? My opinion is that Adam had spent more time with God and must have had an intimacy with God that Eve hadn’t, making her an easier target. So, intimacy with God is good for us as Christians.

You would have thought that that answer should have been enough. I mean his question indicated that all he needed was clarification on the subject matter, and Eve had done just that. But the serpent had other plans. This time he attacked God’s word directly and yet subtly. See:

“But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.” Gen 3: 4 -5

That’s way too much information for someone who claimed he didn’t know anything to have. But that is not really what pisses me off; these are (1)… You shall not surely die – calls God a liar (2) … For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened – calls God a deceiver, pretender, hoarder, someone without love, and someone who doesn’t want progress, selfish, greedy… He practically describes himself to Eve. Now Eve’s response to this was … SILENCE!

#Lesson 6: See how the serpent did not out rightly call God names, all he did was make statements which upon meditation, the truth is revealed. This is still his style.

#Lesson 7: Eve’s first major error began when the words of the devil were planted in her mind. I feel she had insufficient intimacy about who God is, and hence her mind picked what is most logical to it.

#Lesson 8: She should have stood her ground on the Word, by responding to the devil, the same Word she knew. Her silence affirmed the devil’s lies. We can learn from Jesus, how he responded when the devil did not leave him alone after sufficiently answering the first question Matt 4: 3 – 10.

Let me attempt to reconstruct the thoughts that may have gone through her mind. “If the tree is bad for me, why did God plant it? What if he’s right, I can actually be like God! Let me just take one look at the tree…oh! It looks so good for food and it is delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise. Let me taste of it!” And the devil said, CHECKMATE!...

Let me also attempt to answer the first reconstructed (perhaps wrongly) thought. My opinion is that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is not evil of itself. Wisdom is relatively knowledge of Good and Evil (…and a tree to be desired to make one wise. Gen 3:6). Now, King Solomom (Read 1 Kings 2 -11), was the wisest man on earth before Christ, In the beginning, when he was following God’s path and leading, his wisdom was life unto him. But when he began to err and worship strange gods by obviously rejecting God’s path and leading, wisdom was death unto him. So we can assume in this context, that Wisdom is a tool that yields to the will of its user. Man at the time did not have the Holy-Spirit within to guide him in to all truths, and hence it is obvious that Man’s flesh, which is inherently wicked, would be the master of the tool, ultimately causing his death. Also, it was a matter of Faith and Obedience. God in his glorious wisdom, decided to give Man the ability to choose whether to obey him or not. This is for us to have true worship with him.

So, we see that the story of Adam and Eve is not one for us to judge whether they were right or wrong, but to study it to see the lessons we can learn and take full advantage of what Grace has already provided for us.

#Lesson 9: Eve must not have listened to her intuition and conscience (two of the three functions of the spirit; the third being communion with God) for they must have warned her that she was erring. However, without much information to back their warning, Her mind chose the logical option.

#Lesson 10: She must not have known how much God loved her.

#Lesson 11: She allowed her Mind and Emotion (two of the three parts of the human soul) to rule and instruct her Will – the third part of her soul. This: rather than her intuition and conscience.

#Lesson 12: The moment the devil was able to plant the seeds of doubt in her Mind, he had won the battle for the control of her Will. Man’s Will is the organ of the soul that instructs Man’s Body to act. (Man is divided into Spirit, Soul and Body – 1Thess 5: 23.) Hence, when Man’s spirit is in control of his Will, his works are works of the spirit, hence it is accounted to him as righteousness, faithfulness and obedience.

This writing should have been titled ‘Some Lessons from Eve’, because am certain there is a lot more that can be learnt from her story, but I feel titling it ‘Lessons from Eve’ is way cooler!

…CHECKMATE! Same thing the devil must have said when Jesus died on the cross. He probably doesn’t still understand God’s love for the world – John 3: 16. His actions of deceiving Eve only ended up making us gainers. Now we have the Holy Spirit within us + Wisdom + Righteousness + A High Priest who is touched by the feelings of our infirmity and hence we can approach the throne of grace to receive mercy when we err (Heb 4: 15 -16.) + Grace + Many more that Eve did not have.

So in our walk and work of Faith and Obedience, let us expect the devil’s temptations, for whenever God gives us a promise for something, the devil tries to kill, steal and destroy and he does it so subtly, we may not even know that we have erred. Let us constantly keep ourselves by reading and meditating on the Word, praying in the Spirit with groaning and maintaining our confession(s) of Faith. However, if we do err, let’s not cast away our confidence, and like Peter in Matt 14: 26 - 33, when he stopped looking at Jesus and started to sink because he was looking at the wind so boisterous, let us ask for mercy and we will definitely be saved! After all, our true work as Christians is to BELIEVE! (John 6: 29).