Temptation from the Serpent

Listen to today’s reading:

Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Psalm 73:1-2

Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.

Hebrews 4:15

 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Today’s Reading:

A good changeup is one of the best pitches in baseball. What makes a great changeup is when a pitcher can make his arm speed the same as his fastball but also change the speed of the pitch. How does he do that? He changes his grip. If a batter is fooled with a good changeup, he begins his swing earlier and the batter mishits or even whiffs at the ball. Good deception on the pitcher’s part can result in a strike, an out, and ultimately with enough good pitches, a win. Satan, the king of deception, threw Adam and Eve a great changeup. He changed the “grip” on God’s commandment and said, “(If you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil) 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.” Yesterday, we talked about Adam’s (and our) inadequacy to rule over the creation. Maybe Adam and Eve thought “knowledge of good and evil” would give them greater insight into leading and nurturing creation. The Bible does say that Eve saw that the fruit was “desirable for gaining wisdom.” Anyways, we know now that the decision to disobey God and follow the words of the serpent set humankind on a devastating course that was in desperate need of redemption. We don’t deserve redemption, but it came anyways. We look at Jesus’ life through the gospel accounts, and he triumphed over temptation at every turn – even at his physically and spiritually weakest times. Hebrews 4:15-16 says that Jesus was tempted in every way. He can empathize with our weaknesses, and we are encouraged to go to him in prayer when we are in need of overcoming temptation in dealing with Satan’s changeups.

Today’s Prayer Guide:

Praise – Praise the Father for his holiness and the Son for his perfect life in triumphing over temptation.

Confession – Tell him what sins you’ve been struggling with lately.

Ask – Ask him to help you overcome those temptations.