The acid test of choice

The obvious place for Satan to try to pull man away from God’s Love and to get man to turn his back on God was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 3 tells us of that fateful day, when Satan, in form of a snake, asks Eve: “Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” This was not a random creature speaking to Eve for the first time – this was the start of just another conversation.

Satan sows doubt into Eve’s mind. What if God really doesn't have their best interest at heart? Can God really be trusted? 

He twists God’s words, making it sound like God is withholding something from them out of selfishness or spite. “Of course you won’t die! It is just that God knows that when you eat of it you will understand good and evil, and so you will be like God!” Is God really telling the truth? Is his motivation really only Love? Is he really who he says he is?

Satan appeals to what can be seen and touched. Whereas Love requires a degree trust, very little trust is needed when responding to things you can see or touch. Love is unseen. Although you can sometimes feel it and although you can sometimes see the effects of it, there comes a point where you have to choose to trust that it is there and choose to trust in the character of the one who gives it. God’s ways are the ways of faith. Eve saw the fruit was good to eat and with the words of the Father of Lies, the Deceiver, the one out to steal, kill and destroy, ringing in her ears she ate of it and gave some to Adam who was with her who also ate of it.

Temptation, the choice we are faced with that draws into question our relationship with God, is part of the human experience. Temptations are the points at which we too are faced with the choice to take God at his word and to trust his character, or to turn our backs on him because deep inside we doubt his character and motivation. Temptation always requires a response ... and the choice of our response is entirely ours. It boils down to this: do we really trust that God is who he says he is, or do we prefer to take matters into our own hands? Do we really trust that God is Love or do we question his motives?

The acid test of choice is to choose, not according to what we see or according to what it looks like, but according to the trust we have in the character of the One who spoke the truth about something in the first place. The Bible talks a lot about faith - walking by faith, and not by sight, trusting in God’s character. Choosing to trust in God, choosing to trust that God’s character is Love, choosing to believe that God is who he says he is and acting accordingly is obedience and submission to Him - that is in essence what faith is. Obedience and submission to God is always a matter of a response of love.

If Satan’s primary objective, even today, is to get in the way between us and God and to prevent us from living in the light of God’s Love, then he will continue to sow doubt, he will continue to call God’s character into question, he will continue to twist God’s word, appealing to what can be seen as opposed to what needs to be trusted.  Who do we choose to listen to?