There was a woman who lived happily in a garden with her husband, sin free and perfect. But there was an enemy on the loose bidding his time until he could catch the woman alone. One day he got his opportunity and he sweet talked her into eating a forbidden fruit. Everything he said sounded so right, so true, so good but it was lies- all of it; she fell right into his trap. She took the fruit into her hands and took a bite; thus, sin was born into the world. This one bite set off a devastating chain reaction that all humanity would suffer from until Christ came and redeemed us. All because Eve fell for words that she thought were true.
Sin is so easy to fall into because it is a part of who we are. “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” Ephesians 2:3. However, God didn’t leave us defenseless to the enemy’s attacks or temptations. He gave us the greatest weapon and that is His word. It’s described as “sharper than any double edged sword” in Hebrews 4:12 and it is our biggest defense next to prayer.
Let’s go back to Eve for a second. Eve was close to God; she talked to Him and knew His words about not eating the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But what happened when the serpent came along? He asked her what God told her and she added to His words. She said God told her she couldn’t eat the fruit or touch it. There was the enemy’s opening; he saw that she did not know God’s word fully and accurately. He was able to appeal to her lack of knowledge by promising her complete knowledge if she took just one bite.
If we do not know God’s word, our weapon, how will we stand against the enemy’s attacks? How will we be able to discern the truth from the enemy’s lies? How will we avoid these deadly traps? The simple answer is we can’t. When a soldier is being trained to go into battle, he is forced to learn his weapon inside and out. He wouldn’t dream of going into battle without it; that weapon is the difference between life and death. The same is true for us. Ephesians 6 talks about the spiritual warfare we face every day and how we need to always be on guard, God’s word as our sword.
The enemy knows our weaknesses and exactly where to strike. Should we be afraid? No. We should be even more determined to know God’s word so we can hear those lies and see them for what they are- lies. Once we can identify the threat we can escape falling into sin. If we fall into sin there are consequences and if we’re not saved through faith in Christ, death. Don’t be like Eve. Don’t let beautiful sounding words deceive you; don’t leave your weapon behind, focus on God, and stay free from the deadly trap of sin.
