What’s Your Poison?

What’s Your Poison?

Genesis 3:1-7 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 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. 7 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.

-Was it the act of eating from the tree that was the BIG problem, or was it the sin of disobedience, doubting God’s character and not trusting His words? The poison was not so much in the fruit but in the heart! Seeds of doubt will fall into the soil of our hearts, but we don’t have to make a garden of them! Deal with them. Ask the hard questions, but ask in faith, trusting that God is who He says He is! Doubt plays an important part in our faith development! Don’t dodge the doubt, deal with it! Face it! Set your heart and mind to believe, but be brutally honest with the facts. God is not threatened by questions and working through the areas where we are weak in our understanding.

Some people are derailed in their faith by things like the suffering and injustice in the world. But some are derailed b/c they think God is too hard on people and is a cosmic killjoy. They have this idea that God is vindictive and harsh, even though verses like John 3:17 show us that God didn’t send Jesus to condemn us but to save us!

God hates evil b/c He is good. He judges evil b/c He is good! Hate can simply mean to be in opposition to. A doctor hates disease. He is opposed to it and will actively oppose it in order to save human life. Parents hate anything that poses a threat to their children. We put the Yuck stickers on bottles with toxic ingredients so our kids won’t ingest the poison. We are in opposition to anything that threatens their safety and well being.

God hates evil b/c of the damage it does to His children. He opposes it and will judge it. He puts the Yuck stickers on the things that will threaten our safety and well being. When we choose to ignore His warnings, not only are we disregarding His love and concern for us, but we are disregarding His authority. Both areas of failure are significant! Yet, so many people believe the lie that God is holding out on us. Gotta get me some o that poison! It’s fun! I’m missing out if I don’t have it! God just wants to take away my fun! So we eat and drink from the poison of disobedience and immorality, and greed, and selfishness, and arrogantly think we know better than God.

I came across an interesting perspective of Adam’s sin, written by another pastor. He believes that Adam ate from the forbidden tree for a different reason than Eve did. Eve ate because she was deceived by the serpent into believing that God had lied to them (you will not surely die).

1 Timothy 2:14 says “Adam was NOT the one deceived…”

Well, if Adam wasn’t deceived, why did he take of the fruit?

God said that the day they ate of the tree they’d die.

So… Eve eats of the tree.

And what’s going to happen to her? (Adam believes she will die, whatever that is).

Adam was going to lose Eve. He’s going to lose this woman whom he said was “... bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...” Genesis 2:23. He loves her and now he’s going to lose her.

Adam may have reasoned in his heart: “I don’t want to lose her.

But God will kill her for this.

God’s doesn’t UNDERSTAND how important this woman is to me.

And I can’t trust Him.

I can’t trust Him to take care of this the right way.