Miracle Moment

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (3:1-8)

And that my friend is the beginning of a long line of rebellion, confusion and tragedy. Satan used his biggest ploy on Eve. He caused her to doubt God’s heart. God always has our best interest in mind, but the enemy of our soul would have us think that we are smarter than God and that He is just trying to hold us back. By the time we figure out that we’ve been had, there is a wall built between us and our Savior and we’re trying to cover up the mess with our solution of fig leaves. The selfishness of human beings is what opens us up to Satan and the domination of our flesh and causes all of the horrors we experience today. God gets a bum rap for everything that goes wrong when in reality it’s our base nature that causes the problems. We are the reason why there is murder, genocide and oppression.

“So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.'” (4:6-7)

You probably know the story about Cain and Abel. They both brought an offering before the Lord, Abel’s was accepted because it was what God asked for. Cain’s was rejected because it was not. God was real cool about it. In the above scripture He tells Cain, “It’s all good, next time just bring what I asked for and you will get kudos too. But if you don’t get your mind right, you’re opening a door to sin and it is going to take over.” The Lord specifically told him that he could master sin and He says the same thing to us. Look what happens when people fail to do that and are led by their flesh or by Satan himself:

“Now Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” (4:8)

And again, in our New Testament reading we see King Herod having heard about the birth of the new King Jesus and awaiting news of where He could be found:

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” (Matthew 2:16)

PRAYER:

Lord, I pray You will forgive me, save me and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Put me on a righteous path and help to master the sin that tries to capture me. I don’t want to hurt people or throw up a wall between You and me due to disobedience and selfishness. I submit myself to You. Lord, I also pray for world leaders and those in positions of authority. I pray for their salvation and ask You to lead and guide them by Your Spirit so that we may all live in peace. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.