The Fall of Humanity: Genesis 3:1-9

Eve is manipulated by the serpent and sin entered the world. God told Adam, in Genesis 2: 16-17 “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Keep in mind, Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden, naked (vulnerable and shameless), in perfect peace with God. The serpent comes to Eve starting with confusion. He asks Gen 3: 1 “Did God really say that you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” Notice how he twisted God’s words. Eve then says to him in Genesis 3:2-3 “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) and you must not touch it, or you will die. ‘”

We already see the confusion here, God never said they couldn’t touch it. The serpent then goes to on tell her that God is keeping something from them, spiking interest and desire in the heart of Eve. He tells her that God is holding them back from becoming like God, all knowing. Genesis 3:4.

Eve falls for the tricks of the serpent as she sees that the tree is pleasing to the eyes, and her flesh in that moment desires to be “like God”. Once she eats the fruit and doesn’t die (in the physical sense) she then gives some to Adam. Immediately, their eyes are opened to the fact that they’re naked. They felt shame for the first time and then hid from God.

In the moment, we believe that going against the word of God will be beneficial to our lives when it’s really not. Although the sin may seem pleasing to our flesh it’s bad for our souls. Remember, the wages of sin is death. Sin separates us from God; when we sin we feel convicted, ashamed of what we’ve done and then we hide from God just like Adam and Eve did once their eyes were opened. This creates a separation between man and God. The more the we sin, the further from God we become and our hearts turn to stone.

If God didn’t want them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did he put it in the middle of the garden anyways? God is not a dictator, he does not demand that we love him, he wants it to be our choice. He gave mankind free will. Eve had a choice, obey, and trust God’s command or go against his word (sin). She chose to sin. From that bite, evil entered the world, now mankind knows what shame feels like. The world knows what evil is and it’s growing more and more each day as people choose to distance themselves from God.

The good news is, we don’t have to live in sin with hearts of stone separated/hiding from God. We have choices. We can choose to dive into God’s word and pray. We must restore our relationship with Christ so that we will be strong enough to deny our fleshly desires and continue the path of salvation. It’s not an easy choice, but it’s a choice we won’t regret. It’ll be a rollercoaster of emotions, but that’s life anyways. Now, I can’t say that we won’t fall into those bad choices sometimes, none of us are perfect, but we can choose to hold onto God’s hand when things get tough, after all, he chose us even in the moments we didn’t deserve it.

Father, I pray that you hold me. I pray that you keep me strong in moments of temptation. In the moments when my flesh desires something that I think may benefit me or please me, if it goes against your word and your will, hold me in your hands. Give me the strength to deny my flesh and hold fast to what you tell me to do. For I trust in your will over my life, and I believe you have a plan for me even when I feel like I can’t see you working. Forgive me Lord, for the moments of weakness I’ve had in the past and thank you for loving me through it. Your love is unfailing. You and only you have the power to turn my heart of stone into flesh, flowing with your abundant love and peace. Heal my heart Lord and guide me on the path of salvation in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you for providing for me and bringing me this far, for I know without you; I’d be nothing. Amen.