LIFE SCRIPTS

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’?” The woman said to the serpent, “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, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Genesis 3:1‭-‬3 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.3.1-3.NIV

The third chapter of Genesis begins with a description of one of the creatures God had created…the serpent or the snake. It describes this creature as being ‘more crafty’ than any other animal. It’s not explained why he was so but the physical make up of the serpent gives us a glimpse…it has no legs and is elongated. It slithers it’s way through obstacles and impediments. It’s not accustomed to the use of brute force but cunningness. It strikes when least expected. The serpent is one of the creatures used in scripture to symbolise Satan. Part of Satan’s nature is mirrored by the serpent’s lifestyle…slithering his way into our lives carrying a deceptive ‘hissing’ sound yet loaded with a venomous sting at the end. That’s the way the devil entices us to sin. In this scenario, the serpent used it’s cunning nature to ‘twist’ the truth in order to try to confuse the woman. He said ,’Did the Lord really say that you must NOT eat from ANY tree in the garden?’ To which the woman replied correctly that the Lord had instructed them to ‘…eat fruits from the trees in the garden…but NOT to eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden’. However the height of the cunningness of the serpent wasn’t demonstrated in what question he posed but to whom he posed it? He knew that the Lord had issued instructions to man. Woman, who He had created later was to take the instructions from man. Probably since the woman was not a direct recipient of instructions from God, he saw it as an opportunity to manipulate her. In this case, his plan didn’t work. Why? Because the woman was grounded in the instructions she had received from God through Adam. This is the reality of temptation. Sometimes, the wicked one tries to tempt us by twisting what we know as the truth. However, our ultimate success is in knowing the truth. This truth eventually shall set us free. Eve had scored a win in this first instance.