Genesis 3:13

New International Version (NIV)

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

For Meditation

Let’s step back into the Garden of Eden for a moment. Adam and his lovely wife receive a visitor. It’s the serpent with a quizzical look on its face. It clears its throat.

“What is it serpent?”

“I’m just admiring your garden with all the beautiful plants and fruit trees. They are wonderful. But tell me, Eve.  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

With that question, the greatest battle on earth began. The flesh was pitched against the Spirit; the self against God. Adam and Eve had never been interrogated on their relationship with God by anyone before then; but now, they faced one that demanded an expression of what they knew and believed of God. The ancient Serpent knew the weaker one among the first couple, so he directed his query to Eve.

Today’s culture does not accept the truth that the woman is the weaker one in every marriage; but God’s word is eternally true (1 Pt. 3:7). However, Adam was there by Eve’s side and should have stepped in to answer the serpent’s questions. He did not. He exposed his wife to the enemy’s attack and became the main casualty of his failure, bearing the stamp of failure of the interrogation. What a lesson for husbands today, especially, as the world celebrates International Women’s Day!

The result is that today we all suffer death, which is separation from God, until Christ comes into our life (Rm. 6:23). The flesh won the battle in Eden, but God’s grace stepped in to foreshadow Calvary (Gen. 3:1-20). The first couple’s solution to their nakedness, the covering with fig leaves, was woefully inadequate. Therefore, God graciously made garments of skin to replace their self-effort, and left humanity to wait for the second Adam, who passed the devil’s interrogation for our redemption and reconciliation to God (Lk. 4:1-13; 22:39-46; Jn. 19:30; 2 Cor. 5:18).

The catastrophe of Eden was not so much the serpent’s deceitful interrogation as what the first couple did with what God gave them – the freedom of choice, which is part of His image and likeness in which mankind was made.

We face the same situation today in every life decision we make. It is a battle of the flesh against the Spirit – the battle of wills (Gal. 5:16-18; Ja. 1:14-15). The only solution is Christ Jesus, who won the victory in Gethsemane (Rm. 7:24; Lk. 22:42).

Until we own up and turn to Jesus, our conquering King Eternal, we give the flesh unbridled freedom over our will. But when we set our hearts and minds on “things above” (Col. 3:1-2), and fix “our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), we allow the Spirit to lead us in the battle of wills, and keep us from gratifying the desires of the flesh.

We are smarter today by Christ Jesus to fall for Satan’s deception.

Shalom