The Setup for the Downfall
by Charles G. Moore
How to keep from getting set up for a downfall—knowing Satan’s tricks and how to avoid them.
Genesis 3: 1-6
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’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 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.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 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.”
6 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. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Satan called God a liar.
God said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But Satan said to Eve, “You will not surely die.”
Satan used Eve’s desires against her.
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.
Satan set up Eve and the downfall was that sin entered a once perfect earth.
Satan is wise; he will use our wants and desires against us. He wants to set us up! The key for us is to know our weak spots.
It could be a desire for better life, to get ahead, make more money, to get a better job. There is nothing wrong with any of that, but it’s the importance, or priority, we put on it. Are we willing to do anything to get ahead? Cheat? Lie? Backstab?
Just as there was nothing wrong with admiring the beauty of the tree in the garden, it was Eve’s heart that was the issue.
During a visit to see our daughter and son in-law we got into a discussion about Satan tempting Eve. It was a really good discussion that triggered my thinking and my memory about some of the things I had been taught about Satan.
Our daughter said she just couldn’t believe that Eve would be dumb enough to fall for the lies of a talking snake and the more we discussed it, the more I started thinking about it. So I started researching it and found… Click to continue
