Perception - Case study - Eve

"The serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4,5

In the case study of Eve, we start with a different beginning point. Eve was not created with a sin nature. She didn't come out of the womb already tainted, affected and consumed by sin. She wasn't spiritually dead from day one. She was alive, whole, pure, holy and completely unencumbered.

She was perfect.

But let's get one thing straight. Even in her perfection, she was dependent on God. That was how she was created. She needed His guidance, His wisdom, His love and His counsel.

So what was the serpent's message to her? We are not given a lot of details of their meeting, just the basics. And basically, he called God a liar.

"God said you would die? Are you kidding me? You won't die. You see, He knows that as soon as you eat from the tree you'll be just like Him. You won't need Him anymore because you'll know everything you need to know! That's all that tree does - gives you understanding of good and evil."

One of my favorite women's books is Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and it's main point is that from day one, women have believed the lies Satan has whispered in our ears. It's a powerful book that hits us right between the eyes - gals, check it out.

But that's exactly what Eve did. She believed a lie.

So, what was her perception of God? She knew His instruction and she knew the consequence of disobedience. And yet there seemed to be another side to the story. Was God worried that she would become like Him and not need Him anymore? Was she doing Him a favor by eating it - then He wouldn't have to spend so much time instructing her? Why doesn't He want me to know good and evil? Why withhold something as wonderful as this fruit?

We don't know what she was thinking but we do know her choice. She chose to disregard God's instruction and follow another's. She believed Satan's lie, which means that she believed God had lied to her about the true affect of this fruit.

God. A liar.

Can you even imagine?

And that was in a perfect state.

Now put our lives into perspective. We are tainted by sin. We cannot process information without sin affecting it. That's how powerful sin is. And yet, we clearly have God's instructions and we clearly have a choice before us. Do we believe that what God says is true? Or is He a liar? When He tells us that He's given us the Holy Spirit to live within us and help us with our decisions, do we believe it? Or is He lying?

Of course God is not a liar, but unfortunately we act like He is when we don't believe that His ways are best for us. I'm going to let you mull that over for a while. I think each of us can apply this to our own lives in a myriad of ways, so I'll leave the personal application to you.

But keep in mind - Eve's actions revealed her perception of God. She knew Him, was in complete communion with Him, but still chose to believe that He was not being truthful with her. It had devastating consequences in her life as well as ours.

How do your perceptions of God affect your own life, positively or negatively?

Hmmm.....