“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1, NASB)
Satan has been crafty from the beginning. He does not come at us with obvious attacks, but with subtle antics. Consider his initial approach to Eve.
He came as a friend. In all of the depictions of this scene (movies, books, shows, illustrations, etc) the serpent is depicted in overtly sinister ways. He's usually dangling from a tree in a way that would make even a man shutter. One look at that nasty snake and you know he's bad news. I don't think that's how it really happened. This verse reads more like a friend joining Eve in the garden for an innocent chat.
He came for the weaker vessel. It was to Adam that God directly gave the command before He created Eve. There is no record of Him giving the command to her. It would have been Adam's responsibility to teach the command to Eve. One can attempt to draw inferences from this, but the point remains. Eve was the weaker vessel. If Satan could get her, he knew he could get Adam too.
He came with a question. Satan knows better than to outright call God a liar to our faces. But insinuation is a powerful tool. Even more so when it comes in the form of a question. Questions beget more questions. Satan's tactic isn't so much the initial question he poses to us, but the additional questions that will develop in our minds as a result. These questions then produce doubt within us about God's Word. To entertain insinuations is to listen to the voice of Satan.
He came with exaggeration. Satan made God's Word sound ridiculous, legalistic, and oppressive. He subtly repeated the command, changing it to a prohibition against all the trees of the garden. Is it any wonder that children raised under suffocating, extra-biblical standards tend to rebel? Disaster comes when we take away from God's Word and when we add to it.
Stay on guard against the enemy today! Have no patience for his attempts and shut them down at first sight. If you know the Scriptures, use them. If you do not know them, there is no time like the present to get acquainted.
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