Questions, Questions, Questions

I thought it would be interesting to see what we could learn from questions asked in the Bible and so here is another installment.

Our question for today comes from Genesis 3:1. The serpent (Satan) asked Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

The purpose of this question is to put doubt in Eve’s mind as to whether God had really told her that. We find that when Eve answered the question, she told the serpent that God had told them not to eat of the tree neither touch it. Now if you go back and check on what God actually said, it was that they should not eat of the tree. He said nothing about touching it. So she either hadn’t been paying close attention to what God had said or she purposely wanted the command to sound more strict than God had originally made it.

Another purpose for Satan’s asking the question was to raise doubts about God’s motives for giving the command in the first place. In fact the serpent goes on to say, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Here Satan is telling an outright lie and impugning God’s character and motives. Jesus tells us that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

As a result of this temptation, Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, [and] she took of its fruit and ate.”

I think what we can learn from this is to be on the alert for Satan’s lying questions. They come in many forms, but ultimate cause us to question God’s goodness and grace in providing commands and standards for us to follow. God provides for our good by giving us boundaries. Satan and his world system on the other hand are out to lure us using techniques similar to what Satan used against Eve. Just as Eve saw that the tree was good, and a delight to the eyes, and available to make one wise, we are warned not to love the world because if we do, “the love of the Father is not in [us]. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (I John 2:15-17)