I’m posting Genesis 3 from the Abstract Bible this morning. Satan tempts Eve and throws humanity for a loop for all time. I want to focus this morning on how Satan made it happen. Essentially Satan got Eve to question whether or not God meant what He said and then question God’s motivations and goodness. See for yourself.
Genesis 3:1 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’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
I did a piece of art earlier on the week about the tree of knowledge. You can see that below. The point is simple. God didn’t want them too eat from the tree not because He is bad but because they would never have had to know evil. He wanted them to live in paradise forever.
Questioning what God meant has become almost a spectator sport in our world, even in the church. This is part of the reason I started doing the Abstract Bible project. It’s a time of personal devotion. It’s not my only time of devotion, but it is something I do to dwell on the scripture and take it to heart. The reason I post it on video and share it is because I want to give you another chance to hear the unfiltered Word of God and share an idea you can use for drawing closer to God through His Word. This is also the reason I post the daily one year Bible reading.
I also posted it because I needed it myself. As a pastor, I spend time in the Bible for part of my living, but there was a problem with that. I found that I was getting into the Word mostly for research, so I’d have something to preach. That’s not really enough. There needed to be some more time where it was just me and God for no other reason than for Him to speak into my life. There were times where I genuinely missed that.
We all need to be in the Word of God. It is our God given weapon against the attacks of the enemy. It is the resource we can use when outside forces try to get us to question God’s Word and His love, whether He means what He says and whether or not He loves us. The Bible is His answer, it’s His love letter to you. A closed Bible is useless, to reap it’s power and wisdom, it has to be opened. Find a devotional practice that works for you and do it every day.This Lord’s day (and every day), get in the Word.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Genesis 45, Job 21-23, Psalm 13
You can also download your own chart here.
