By Justin Pratt, Clear Springs Baptist Church Senior Pastor
Typically, when I write these articles, I try not to make them feel overly theological. I want them to be practical, relatable and applicable to everyday life. But this one may hit a little differently. Recently, I was restudying the opening chapters of Genesis, and something jumped off the page that I had never really considered before. Most people are familiar with the story. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them tremendous freedom. They could enjoy everything He had created with one prohibition: they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then the serpent entered the story. Satan began doing what he has been doing ever since: questioning God’s Word, distorting God’s intentions, and denying God’s goodness.
The serpent told Eve that God knew that if she ate the forbidden fruit, her eyes would be opened and she would be god-like. Genesis 1:26, however, records that God had already said that he would make humanity in His image, or like Him. Satan was tempting Eve to rebel against God to obtain something God had already given her through relationship with Him.
That may be one of the devil’s oldest strategies. The enemy is incredibly good at offering us, through rebellion, what God has already provided through relationship.
Think about how often sin still works this way. Adultery whispers that God’s design for sexuality, intimacy, and marriage is insufficient; that fulfillment must be found outside the boundaries God established. Murder and vengeance whisper that God’s justice cannot be trusted, so we must take judgment into our own hands. Theft whispers that God’s way of honest labor and faithful provision isn’t enough, so dishonest gain becomes justified in our minds. The circumstances and details change, but the deception remains remarkably similar: God is withholding something from you. His way isn’t enough. You need to reach outside His boundaries to get what you deserve. That was the lie in Eden, and it is still the lie today.
Satan wants us to believe obedience to our Creator is keeping us from something good, when often obedience is the very boundary God has established to protect the good He has already given us. There is a principle here that I believe is worth remembering: What God wants us to have, we never need to compromise to get. If obtaining something requires you to abandon biblical conviction, violate your conscience, compromise your integrity, or damage your relationship with God, you should seriously question whether that “something” is worth having at all. Be careful about sacrificing what God has already given you while chasing what the enemy has convinced you that you need. A relationship, a position, a promotion, pleasure, acceptance, or success. None of those things are worth exchanging intimacy with God for.
The tragedy of Genesis 3 wasn’t simply that Adam and Eve ate a piece of forbidden fruit. It was that they distrusted the God who had already given them everything they needed. They reached through rebellion for what they believed God was withholding, only to discover that sin never delivers what it promises. Thousands of years later, the enemy’s strategy hasn’t changed much, and neither has the answer. We, as created beings, are to trust our Creator. Our dependence and reliance should be on God: to believe His Word, depend on His boundaries, and be confident in His timing. Each of us does well to remember that what God wants us to have, we will never need to compromise our relationship with Him to get.
