Most of us learn at a young age that lying is wrong. I was six when I lied to my family to get an extra dessert. It sounds silly, but the consequences of my actions stuck with me over the years. In the story of creation, Eve becomes the victim of a terrible lie. The serpent deceives Eve, and sin enters the world.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
We are not unlike Eve in this story. It’s easy to point fingers; it’s easy to assume that we could have acted differently if we were in her shoes (figuratively, of course). But, we are often deceived into taking the fruit, just like Eve. Consider the following questions:
- Did God really say you are valuable?
- Did God really say that he hears you?
- Did God really say that he loves you?
- Did God really say you are beautiful?
- Did God really say that you aren’t alone?
- Did God really say he will take care of you?
The enemy is often successful in lying to us because we aren’t able to recognize it as such. In creation, Satan questioned the authority of God by asking a simple question, and Eve took the bait. She bought into the lie that God was holding out on her, not wanting her to inherit knowledge. We buy into lies too, lies that say God doesn’t value us or that he isn’t listening when we pray. We wrongfully believe that we are unlovable or abandoned.
In Luke 4 when Jesus is tempted by the devil, he combats the enemy’s lies with scripture. We too can use this tool in combat. Consider these responses to the previously stated lies:
- Did God really say you are valuable? 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people,a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
- Did God really say that he hears you? Psalm 34:17-18 says, “The righteous cry out, and theLord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
- Did God really say that he loves you? Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
- Did God really say you are beautiful? Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me togetherin my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
- Did God really say that you aren’t alone? Matthew 28:20 says, “…and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Did God really say he will take care of you? Matthew 6:25-26 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worryabout your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Jesus is the Savior we need in order to be reconciled with God. The enemy is still at large, and he is tricky, always looking for new ways to tempt us into thinking ill of God or His plan for our lives. If we continue reading in Luke 4, when the enemy finishes tempting Jesus he departs from him until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). The enemy is never finished, but we can always be prepared to combat his lies if we keep scripture on our lips. Be ever at the ready, and take heart, you are not alone!
