RECOGNIZING DECEPTION

If someone said, don’t do what Eve did in the Garden of Eden, a person might be inclined to think, well I would have never listened to that snake in the first place. But not only do we make the same mistake, but we probably do not realize the magnitude of it either. How many mistakes can we count? Listening to the snake, believing the snake and acting upon what the snake said. That is at least three big ones, but there are even more mistakes that should be considered also. In listening to the snake, Eve started to doubt God and what He had said. But the deception continued until she was in agreement with the snake. This is huge. When we are in agreement with the devil, we are in disagreement with God.
 
The Bible says that Adam willfully disobeyed and sinned, but Eve was “deceived” and sinned. Both were disobedient to God and sinned, but in different ways. Today we are considering Eve’s deception. How many of us at different times, have given our inner ear to the devil’s deception? With thoughts such as, “oh, it is really not that bad of a sin,” or “doing such and such, is not a sin to me,” or “hey I can repent later.” Or any number of a cazillion lies the devil has in his bag of tricks. When we give the lies an ear and take them in, we not only doubt God, but we get in agreement with the devil. This is siding with the enemy and in disobedience to our Lord.
 
Have you ever heard lies from the devil such as “you are not smart enough, pretty enough, nice enough, holy enough and more?” Trickery, condemnation and doubt are not tools of the Lord. They come from the dark side. God says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that He loves us and He equips us. When King David was young, God helped him kill a lion and a bear. What if he had believed the devil that said that the bear was twice his size or that there was no way he could overcome a lion and that he would just be eaten alive? David walked with the Lord from his youth. He knew the sheep were his responsibility, and he knew that the Lord would help him. What if he had listened to the enemy in those two circumstances? I doubt that he would have then had the courage to stand up against Goliath. David made mistakes in his life, but he also repented and got back on track. He kept his heart in right-standing and in thankfulness to God.

If we are not careful, we can drink in lies about our self-worth or God’s ability to help us and simply put, wind up in agreement with the devil, that ole serpent of old who seeks to steal, kill and destroy us. We need to be alert and realize that when we drink in the enemy’s lies, it is being in agreement with the devil. And that anytime we believe his lies over God’s Word, we are not only sinning, but we are siding with the enemy. Nothing good could come from doing that and would put us in a place more trouble and potentially even affect those around us. Lord help us to only listen to You and not give the devil our ears.