The Fall - Wednesday

The third test:

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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The interesting thing about this part of the deception is that it is literally true. The lie is the implication that good will come of disobedience, not bad.

Jesus said in the third Beatitude: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth

I think this Beatitude clearly portrays God's intention in this situation: "I have given you the power to disobey, don't use it. Do as I say, and you will inherit everything that's good in time."

Satan is saying: Cursed are the willingly obedient, they lose out.

Some interesting correlations (at least to me):

• The third thing Jesus tells us to pray is to have God's will done on earth - in other words, to obey what he's told us.
• The third day of creation is where God divides the land and sea. Later in the bible God tells Job, that he set limits for the sea and told it to obey: "here is where your proud waves halt".
• In the third temptation of Jesus, Satan offers him all the kingdoms of the earth “if you will bow down and worship me.” - to throw off obedience to God.
• The third thing Jesus says to Paul in his conversion is to get up off the ground and obey. At that point, Paul's eyes are "closed", where in this story, Adam and Eve's eyes are "opened". Too many correlations to consider at once...

At the heart of this, I think God is saying to me, "You need to obey me willingly. You have the power to disobey - don't use it - set it aside."

Here is my struggle: I often knowingly do wrong, thinking it's a shortcut to get what I think is "good". One of the worst areas has been me pushing my agenda on others, especially Becky and the kids - God forgive me.

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Wednesdays | My influence is in chaos, and God wants to set things right
- Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth
- Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

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