And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. [11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Genesis 3:9-11 KJV
The fall of man was one of the most tragic events in man’s history, although it did not take God by surprise. Adam who was to reign and have dominion over the earth became a slave to the one he was to subdue. God created man to live in His presence and in fellowship with His maker. Genesis 2:21-25 showed the formation of man and his wife, Eve. The bible mentioned that they were naked and not ashamed. Man’s problem started with engaging a false knowledge. God warned man not to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, the moment he partook of this tree, the first revelation he had was that he was naked and this came with a shame and fear that made him hide from God.
When God came to commune with Adam and his wife again and they hid for fear, the question He asked them is worthy of note, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat of?”. The issue here was not that man was naked. Genesis 2:25 showed that when man was created, he was naked and not ashamed. There was never any emphasis on that, nor any weakness because God was his covering. All his shortcomings were to be covered and dealt with by interacting with God and his tree of life, but unfortunately, Adam never tasted of the tree of life due to sin. Man partook of the fruit of this tree of knowledge and became a slave to the serpent who used this knowledge to their hurt. In Revelations 12:7-10, this same serpent is known as the accuser of the brethren, who deceives men by accusing man to God and God to man.
This interaction still happens daily among those who are in Christ. To the man in Christ, his iniquities are pardoned. However, the daily battle between the accuser and the child of God is one that goes on still. Although the devil cannot go up to God to accuse a man, he would rather deceive a man in his mind that he has sinned and is therefore separated from God or that he is anything less than what God says about him. We see this interaction in Zechariah 3, where satan stood before Joshua the High priest to resist him. The believer in Christ has a choice between engaging in the false knowledge presented to him by the devil, which is presented to him based on his interaction with his environment, and the true knowledge based on his interaction with the Word of God. Like Adam who was presented with the choice between the tree of Life (the true knowledge of God which is Eternal life), and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we choose who we listen to and who we believe. Similar to the Israelites who went to spy out the promised land in Numbers 13 & 14, what a believer chooses to believe will determine if he partakes of the promise of God, 2 Peter 1:1-4, or if he is buried in the wilderness and loses out of God’s promise due to unbelief.
Bringing it down to our daily lives, most of the time, the devil does not come to us with horns and a tail. His accusations could be something as subtle as asking you to fast and pray so you can ‘feel’ the presence of God and His approval before doing something. While there is nothing wrong with fasting and praying, God lives in you, so the logic that you need to fast and pray to ‘enter’ His presence is false. This false knowledge can also come based on situations E.g “I a tired and so I cannot pray” or ” I failed my Chemistry class, so I am a failure and will never get into Med school” or “I fasted and prayed for 50 hours and so I am qualified to do xyz”. This knowledge can be based on “fact”, what others tell us, what our culture says, what we see, etc. The problem with this knowledge of good and evil is that it turns us away from looking at Jesus to looking at ourselves. If Jesus did not say something is true, it is a lie, Period!
Final thoughts: Many have been cheated of their deliverance because they mistake “fact” and truth. Before holding on to something as truth, ask yourself “Who told me this is true? Was it myself, friends? did Jesus say so?”. The bible says His good thoughts towards us are great, even more than the sand upon the sea, Psalm 139:18-19. So regardless of how ugly, unworthy, weak or unqualified, you feel, if God’s word does not agree, it is not worthy of your consideration. To magnify the Word of God above our senses and feelings is faith and this pleases God! So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. Philippians 4:8 TPT
Prayer: Lord thank you for Your precious thoughts unto me! I am sorry for all the times I have magnified situations or lies over Your true Word. Please show me any lie about You or myself that I have believed today and replace this lie by Your truth. I chose the eat of Your tree of life today and denounce any false knowledge of good and evil.
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