Evil Will Deceive

This seems like a pretty simple concept to grasp, “evil will deceive”, and it is. But read that again and really take it in.

“⁴But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” – Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV)

In some respects, did the serpent lie to the woman? The serpent used literal connotations to deceive. The woman was thinking of literal death and death from the life that she knew. The serpent used words to distort meaning, knowing that the woman would be deceived.

There are many other examples of this deception that I thought of this morning. Such as, is it really wrong to drive fast, other than the rules say don’t? What is so wrong about eating a few grapes at the grocery store without buying any, we need to taste them for ripeness, right? What is the big deal with shooting fireworks during a burn ban in the area, you have a water hose right there with you?

All of the above seem as though they might be innocent enough, yet they are being restricted by too many rules and/or regulations. If doing any of them, is anyone really hurt in the moment, are the really that bad? Yes, they are. Not because they will cause harm to anyone in the moment, but because they go against that which we know to be the rules.

When the woman was deceived into eating of the tree of good and evil, she knew the rules and they were not even that restrictive. The rule was two trees being forbidden, all others were acceptable to partake from and encouraged for sustenance. God had give instructions to abstain from these two trees only and that should have been enough. But the serpent was there to get her to do that one thing she was not to do.

This happens in my life all the time. I am deceived into doing the one thing that I am not to do. Whether it is diving into social media for an extended time, waiting to accomplish tasks until it is almost too late, or simply avoiding something with excuses as to why I am not able to do them (like exercising).

There is nothing that I can do to stop the deception that comes from evil. The serpent is going to be there working to separate me from God at every step of the way. But what I can do is know. I can know that the serpent is there. I can know that I will be deceived. I can know that defeating evil is possible. I can know that light overcomes darkness. I can know that when I have the Light of the LORD in me, I will overcome the deception and ultimately evil.

What deception are you experiencing in your life? Are you giving in to that deception? What if you were to recognize that you will be deceived and that there is a way to avoid it, and that way is through the Light of the LORD?