Genesis 3:2-5
[2] And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, [3] but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” [4] But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. [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.”
Eve corrects the serpent – but like many of us, adds to God’s commandments. God merely said that they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She adds, “neither shall you touch it.”
How many times have you added to what God has actually commanded for us?
How many times have you added to what you or someone else was actually supposed to do – according to God, not man?
I don’t know about you, but I do struggle with that. I add on things for myself – get upset when I don’t do them. Or I start to judge those who do other things that actually aren’t against God’s commands.
Anyway, back to the text – in verse 4 we see the serpent respond, and we find that he’s not just curious, he didn’t just mishear God the first time. Here he deliberately deceives Eve.
Yet what he says is half-true…
Adam and Eve don’t die right away, although that’s not what God meant.
Their eyes are opened, but only to see that they are naked – to open them up to shame.
They already are like God, for they were made in His image, but now they’ve experienced sin – evil.
That is the way of sin, though. Half-truths wrapped in a lie.
Glorious chocolate, wrapped in laxative.
An apple that looks so good, so appealing, but once you bite into it, it rots all the way into your stomach.
Sin is half-truths.
Quit listening to half-truths!
Quit listening to the serpent, to those around you that say its just fine, when God says it isn’t.
Quit speaking half-truths! Quit saying that God commands something, that He doesn’t!
If you’re half-right, you’re still all wrong.
Stop listening to the serpent.
Start listening to that smaller, stronger voice – the Voice of Truth.
That’s how he gets me the most often. Uses half-truths. He starts with something I can’t argue with and runs away with it.
I feel you, Ricky, I hate that. We just have to remember to listen for the whole truth, although that can be really hard…