Outwitting the Serpent

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

I have an amazing internal clock that, when I cooperate, shuts me down around 9 p.m. and starts me back up at 4:00 in the morning. Life is grand when I flow with the way God made me.

But when I can’t or won’t cooperate, that internal mechanism does a little hiccup, and around 2:30 a.m., when my body knows it should be resting, my mind is convinced it should be awake.

And that can be a dangerous thing. Unattended minds tend to wander.

Almost immediately, I’ll ask my little friend Alexa to play some worship music or read me the Scriptures, just to keep my mind on true, noble, and just things. Because I know that the mind, on its own, is no reliable discerner of truth.

Exhibit A: Adam and Eve in the Garden

Looking back now, we can breathe a sigh of relief, happy that God had all that in hand for us, but it certainly wasn’t His highest and best for Adam and Eve. Because of just a little careless conversation with the enemy, they ended up in dangerous territory outside the garden.

It could have been prevented. There were things Adam and Eve could have done to short-circuit the plans of the serpent and continue the good life in the garden.

Instead, they had to leave their safe place, the serpent followed them out, and now we all deal with the deceiver.

But, as with Adam and Eve, there are things we can do to outwit the serpent.

When you hear something, take time to consider it

No matter from whom you hear it.

I have no idea if Eve and the serpent spoke regularly, but it would be just like the enemy to establish a relationship with her in order to deceive her. He’s willing to invest the time and effort up front to have his way in the end. He’ll even disguise himself as an angel of light.

It appears that not far into her discussion with the serpent, Eve was ready to say, “Oh. Okay. You sound like you know what you’re talking about. I must have misunderstood.”

You know, God did an amazing thing when He created the human brain, and contrary to the teaching of some, you have permission to use it. Always. When you hear something — anything — from someone — anyone — that has the potential to impact your life, take time to consider it.

If their suggestion agrees with Scripture, you can trust it — maybe

In the garden, Adam and Eve got wisdom for living straight from the mouth of God. Wow.

When that was no longer humanly possible, God did the next best thing. He spoke to men He’d carefully selected to lend their ears to heaven and record what they heard Him say. Wow as well.

He gave us the Scriptures to drown out the deceiver’s voice.

So, if you see what someone says supported by the Scriptures — in context, mind you, and in more than one place — you can trust it.

But wait! If you run into something else somewhere else in the Scriptures that seems contrary to that or muddles your understanding of it, your work isn’t finished.

If you don’t understand what is written in the Scriptures, ask the Holy Spirit to help you

The serpent’s tactic was to subtly introduce confusion before he spoke an out-and-out lie. Either Eve wasn’t quite sure of what God said, or she decided to add a little drama to the story with some seemingly harmless exaggeration, but she played right into the serpent’s hand by editing what God had said.

Now, if Adam hadn’t been there, alert and ready to reintroduce truth, or was simply distracted or uninvolved, it would have been a wonderful time for Eve to take a walk, wait for the cool of the day, and talk to her Creator about it. What was her hurry, anyway? That tree wasn’t going anywhere.

Neither can we use the lack of an on-the-spot answer as an excuse for foolishness. What’s our hurry, anyway? Usually, if we’re under pressure for an instant answer, we’ve strayed onto dangerous ground.

Jesus said:

“ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.” (John 14:16, GNT)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13, NLT)

Give the Helper a chance to help.

Discuss your questions and conclusions with reliable companions

If you follow the chronology of Genesis 2, it appears that when God instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve hadn’t yet been taken out of Adam’s side. This could have been an act of divine multiplication: upon the one becoming two, they both had knowledge of God’s instruction.

Or not.

Perhaps a part of Adam’s assignment to tend and watch over the garden was to share with Eve all that God had taught him.

Either way, isn’t it interesting that immediately after God gave Adam the instruction to abstain from the fruit that would kill him, God said, “It’s not good for man to be alone”?

When the serpent said, “You won’t surely die,” it was Adam’s cue to tap Eve on the shoulder and say, “Uh, Eve, that’s not what God said.” But evidently, he didn’t feel the need to speak up and Eve didn’t feel the need to ask.

And evidently, neither of them felt the need to stop and consider the choice before them, or discuss it, or step back and ask the Source of Life. They felt they had it handled.

Now, before you start muttering under your breath and searching for stones, consider this:

God has given us a great advantage over Adam and Eve. There are more than two of us. We can all have each other’s backs — and that’s impossible with only two.

The writer of Hebrews said

“Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.” (Hebrews 10:25, GNT)

This “habit of meeting together” can take on all forms, as long as those meeting together encourage one another while searching out the truth.

So, if you are too self-conscious to ask those you are meeting with for help to understand God’s Word, you have some pride to deal with. And if those you hang with make you feel small for not knowing what they know or having to ask for their help, you’re hanging with the wrong crowd.

But if they are excited and invested in dialogue with you about your questions or concerns — and theirs — you’ve found a good company.

Epic fail, epic recovery

Whether Adam and Eve were just caught up in a moment of confusion, or overtaken by lust, or Eve was too prideful to say, “I don’t know,” and Adam was too much of a wallflower to say, “Eve, that’s not the right thing to do,” the result was the same. In the words of the Millennials, “epic fail.”

Thank God that we’ve been redeemed from Adam and Eve’s mistakes. Thank God, Jesus said “Yes” when the Father asked Him to redeem us from ours.

Thank God we have the Scriptures and He’s sent us the Helper to help. And thank God for those who gather around us as together we search for the truth.

Thank God that, barring pride and selfish motives, we can outwit the serpent.