Lessons from the story of Adam & Eve

The Background

One of the most common stories in the Bible is the story of Adam and Eve. In this story, we learn of Adam and Eve who lived in perfect unity with God in the garden of Eden. Everything was good then. There was no pain, suffering, sickness and any bad thing you can think of. And as hard as others might find it hard to believe, they did not have to work. So in modern terms, every day was like a vacation! It was fun and more fun!

The good LORD had given them them freedom to eat anything they wanted, except for the fruit of the tree which was in the midst of the garden. God  gave them one simple and clear instruction, ” Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Life was good as Adam and Eve lived in God’s presence. The Bible has no account of how they struggled to fight the desire to eat the forbidden fruit before the serpent got in the picture; which leaves us to believe, they were doing just fine. They probably passed by the tree everyday but they never had second thoughts about God’s instruction. This was until one day when the enemy crafted a plan for their downfall.

Lesson #1: Be careful of whom you disclose information to

When the devil approached Eve in the form of a serpent, she was so naive. She revealed too much information. In revealing too much, the devil got enough details to use as a pitch to attack her. The snake/serpent asked Eve if God had forbidden them to eat from any tree in the garden. If Eve had simply said “No” then walked away, probably things could have been better. But at that time, Eve lacked wisdom and she probably did not exercise the spirit of discernment within her. She went on to give full details of exactly what had happened. In her naivety, she spoke the truth but fed the enemy with all the details he needed to attack.

Lesson # 2: Nothing New...

Eve was not tempted with something new in her life. The tree had always been there and all along they lived perfectly fine without eating it or touching it. But when she allowed the snake to change her perception and instill doubt concerning God’s word– the fruit of the tree started to look good for food and pleasing to her eye. Suddenly, she grew a  desire for gaining wisdom. (Gen 3:6)

Lesson #3: Sin begets sin

Had Eve fallen alone, most likely things could have been better. But she also invited Adam to be her partner in crime. And foolishly, Adam gave in. So Adam and Eve both sinned against their good father. (Gen 3:6)

Lesson #4: The devil is a deceiver

Deceit is one of his best tricks. I wrote a post earlier on how Satan is not just a liar. He has multiple tricks that he uses to influence us. One of them is deceit.  No one can deceive more that he does. He is the master of deceit.