God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, a true paradise! Then he gave them these instructions: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”1 We all know what happened next. The devil came and tricked Eve into eating from that one tree and convinced Adam to eat also and then God showed up and asked what happened! The popular consensus to the story is that Eve is to blame for sin coming into the world because she disobeyed God’s direct order. And that would be absolutely true!
My question is why did Eve disobey God? Most theologians are quick to answer that Eve didn’t like God telling her what she could and couldn’t do. She disobeyed God because of her willfulness. And that would definitely be true. Other people might say that Eve did not pay close attention to God’s instructions and became unsure about the command. She disobeyed God because the Devil confused her. This, also, is true for we know that the devil is indeed “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”2
But in addition to these things, there is one more possibility: Eve was neither willful nor confused. Actually, she might have thought she was being quite godly and rational about the whole thing. Consider this: “So when the woman 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, she took of its fruit and ate.”3 Eve thought eating the fruit was practical (would taste good) and attractive (looked good) and the wise decision (would make her more like God). To sum up: it seemed like the right thing to do!
Eve wanted the effect of the fruit: “knowing good and evil.”4 In her mind, that seemed like a good thing! And at first glance, most of us would agree! That’s how crafty the devil is. He will convince us that our disobedience is obedience. As a matter of fact, often we will not realize that we have even been talking with the devil when we disobey. We will be so convinced that the decision facing us is the best option and that it would be . . . well, not wrong, but unwise to not choose it. The disobedience will often appear to be an incredible, too-hard-to-pass-up great opportunity. It will seem like an answer to prayer!
We make some bad choices believing our decision is an answer to a prayer we never even offered up! At some point after we make this bad decision (which we thought was a great decision) our eyes are opened—as Adam and Eve’s eyes were the minute they ate the fruit—and we will be shocked and humiliated, like Adam and Eve: “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”5 Adam and Eve tried to hide from God and when God found them, they had a very awkward and painful conversation with him.
Our eyes might not be opened right away, like Adam and Eve’s were. It might take days or weeks or months or years before we realize what we have done, and the consequences of our decision could be extensive and irreparable. We will feel absolutely devastated. And foolish. And ashamed. We will wonder if we can ever trust anyone or anything again—including ourselves and the answer is No. We cannot! (This is the short answer; there is more to be said on this subject later.)
Eve trusted her own thoughts about the decision. She discussed it with the devil, who, by the way, put the idea into her head to begin with. Of course, she was unaware that she was talking to the devil. So, here’s one lesson to learn: Take all important decisions to God—especially the ones that seem like the right thing to do because the devil will wrap his lies in truth. Peter says that our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.”6
Jesus warns us to pray “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”7 However, as we pray about important decisions, we need to make sure our prayers are questions and not instructions. When we want a decision to go a certain way, our prayers can become a time where we merely share information with God and ask for his blessing on what we have decided is a good thing to do!
The scariest and most damaging sin we commit is trusting ourselves to know what is best. It is frightening to think that Eve believed she was doing the right thing, the godly thing, the thing that would please God. A second lesson to learn is this: “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”8
1Genesis 2:16-17 2Genesis 3:1 3Genesis 3:6 4Genesis 3:5 5Genesis 3:7 61 Peter 5:8-9 7Matthew 6:13 8Proverbs 3:7