Jump Start # 1177

NOTE TO READERS: Monday is a holiday and we will not have a Jump Start on that day.

Genesis 3:1 “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?’”

Today we conclude our mini series on interesting expressions in our Bible. There are so many more that we could look at. After God stopped Abraham from attempting to sacrifice Isaac, the text says, “Now I know.” What a great statement. Jesus told the disciples, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Three words. Great thoughts there. Paul told his shipmates on the dangerous voyage to Rome, “It will turn out exactly as I have been told.” The virtuous woman is said to “Smile at the future.” The rich man in Luke 16, we are told, “And in hades he saw.” Paul told the Romans, “We are more than conquerors.” This is just a sampling of the mighty expressions found in our Bibles. These are the things we can mediate upon. These are the statements that give us great applications and further insights into God’s will.

Our thought today comes from the fall of mankind, the first sin—ever. It takes place in the garden. Satan, using the serpent, began a conversation with Eve. There are many curious questions about all of this. Eve doesn’t seem to be startled that she is talking to an animal. Could the other animals speak? We are not told how long after creation this took place. The next day, week, month, year? Don’t know. We don’t know what the serpent looked like. No clue. We don’t know what the forbidden fruit was. Obviously it would not be something available to us today. So guessing an apple is pretty much the wrong guess.

And he said to the woman—that’s the expression we want to look at today. And he said to the woman. Eve is talking to the serpent. Did she know who she was talking to? Did she realize Satan was behind all of this?

The conversation begins with a huge restriction. You can’t eat from any tree. That’s what God said? Why then did he put you in a garden of trees if you can’t eat from them. How will you live? It’s not fair to have these trees but you can’t eat from them. God’s not fair. God takes away all the fun. God is always saying NO. All of this was playing on Eve’s mind. The serpent was trying to discredit God. He was planting the idea that God is not as good as you think.

Eve had no history with the serpent. She was not created by the serpent. The serpent had not provided for her. The serpent was not good to her. She did, however have a relationship with God. God had been there. God walked with Adam in the cool of the garden. God made Eve. It is amazing how someone or something comes along and we throw out all that we know from trusted family and brethren for someone we barely know. An article floats around on the internet and immediately some jump on the band wagon and begin disbelieving all things they know about the Bible. The evidence, the trust, the goodness of God’s word is tossed because someone’s wild ideas, that have no support. Is this nothing more than talking to serpents?

Eve faced three conclusions from her conversation with a serpent.

1. She had to choose between what she knew was right and what she felt or wanted. She knew. God revealed. The words are simple and the message clear. God is always that way. Satan and serpents are always foggy. It’s unclear what they are saying or what they mean. Not God. Eve knew. She responded correctly to the serpent. That was good but still a mistake. The best thing she should have done was to walk. “I don’t talk to serpents,” would have been a powerful reply. The same would work for us today. Satan  had Eve confused. It was a matter of the head and the heart. The head knew. The heart wanted the opposite. Satan is good at that. It’s an internal battle. Not sure about God now, wanting what is forbidden, told that God doesn’t mean what He says, the foggy Eve was easy prey for Satan. We are the same. Head and heart. The head knows what the Bible says. Temptation rarely attacks the head. The head has facts, evidence, proof, logic, reason and mountains of counted blessings. The head knows. The heart is weak. It doesn’t think, it feels. It wants. It doesn’t see consequences. It doesn’t know about influences. It just feels. Without the head, we are toast. The heart wins every time when the head is not engaged. The heart is after happiness. The head is after holiness. Often, those are not the same. The head steers the vehicle. Head and heat. Satan had Eve confused. He still does that today with us.

2. Eve had to decide between the immediate and the eternal. This again is another way the head and heart are expressed. The immediate means it looks good. The immediate means I like it. The immediate means what’s so wrong with this? The immediate. The eternal is based  upon the head and faith. The head thinks. The head remembers. The head understands that what I do today affects my tomorrow. There are many applications of that. The heart sees junk food and wants to eat it right now, before dinner. The head remembers dinner is coming. The head doesn’t like the way the body is looking or feeling. The heart sees something in the store and wants to buy it right now. The head thinks about budgets, savings and planning for spending. Head and heart—they are a constant battle. Here, the heart is blind. It can’t see very far into the future. The affair, the drink, the shoplifting, the gossip, the lie—all those things are not driven by the head, but the heart. They are immediate. They are not calculated. Little thought is given to consequences which always follow every decision we make. What we do today can affect our eternity. Had Eve gotten that, she would have walked away.

3. Eve had to live with her choices. That’s the bottom line for all of us. We make choices. We listen to serpents. We talk to Satan. We have a head and heart battle within us and finally there is a choice. For Eve, it meant sin. For Eve, she had to leave Paradise. For Eve, it introduced pain and death to the world. It didn’t matter that she did this one time. It didn’t matter that later she was sorry. It didn’t matter that she would do differently the next time. The choice was made. She was tricked by a serpent. She had to live with the choice she made.

All of this began when she started talking to serpents. Don’t you expect that’s where many of our troubles come from. We listen to serpents more than we listen to God. We allow others to plant doubt in us. We are fogged in and fooled by the voice of others.

Talking to serpents…that’s where it all started.

Roger