Eve's choice

I received an interesting devotional today by Mary Southerland. She was talking about temptation. I obviously don't want to copy her devotional but it raised a couple of interesting side notes.

The two biggest temptation stories of the Bible are Eve's in the Garden of Eden and Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. They present two different outcomes to temptation. Eve gave in; Jesus didn't. The difference? I think it's the way they understood and used God's Word, and the way they communicated with God.

Eve knew God had said something about the fruit of one tree but when the crunch came, she didn't know exactly what.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " Genesis 3:1-3

Is that really what God had said? Not quite.

"And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."Genesis 2:16

She had the general message right - it was a tree in the middle of the garden, and death was on the line. But she added to it too. Suddenly, the focus was not on the variety and abundance of what was available to her but on the one thing that was not.

Kind of like dieting makes that donut look more appealing just because we know we shouldn't eat it.

Or the way tithing is hard because we look at the amount in the 10 percent column instead of the 90 percent available to us.

Jesus, by comparison, also knew what God had said, but he didn't add to it or try to rationalize it. When Satan came to him, Jesus answered him with God's Word and nothing else.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he [Jesus] was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "Matthew 4:2-4

Had God really said that? Yes. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' " Matthew 4:5-7

Is that was God's Word said? Yes. (Psalm 91:11, 12; Deuteronomy 6:16)

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " Matthew 4:8-10

Really? Yes. (Deuteronomy 6:13)

The other thing to notice is that both Eve and Jesus talked with God regularly. Eve got to commune with God in the beautiful setting of the garden every day. But Eve didn't take time to talk to God about Satan's temptation. Do you suppose she might have made a different choice if she had? We can't say for sure, but we do see that Jesus, even after spending 40 days fasting, was much better prepared for Satan's insidious suggestions.

Eve ate when she wasn't hungry. Jesus didn't eat when he was.

Unfortunately for Eve, giving in to the temptation didn't get rid of the temptor. He was still there when God came later to the garden to talk with Adam and Eve. But notice what happened when Jesus relied on God's Word when tempted:

Then the devil left him and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:11)

Let both Eve and Jesus be a reminder. Temptations will always be available to us but we can be prepared to face it. By knowing God's word and talking with Him both before and during a time of temptation, we can be much better prepared to avoid the pitfalls.

A green light on miracles

Sometimes I think we miss miracles because we're not looking. Sometimes I think we miss miracles because they are small (in scope or in size, not in importance). But sometimes we see them and that changes our whole day.

Today my day started with a miracle. I got up on time (okay, that was a miracle but not the one I'm thinking of) but somehow ended up running a bit late. So I was driving to work and a little concerned that I'd cut it too close. I'm the teacher this week so it's not like they could start without me.

As I drove towards the first set of traffic lights I would encounter, I looked ahead and saw that the green left-turn arrow was already on and there was only one truck proceeding to turn. "Nuts," I thought, knowing I'd miss the light and have to wait for a rather long interval to catch the next one.

Now, understand - I've been driving through this traffic light for a month now. I know the pattern it takes in the morning. And so I sighed and resigned myself to a longish wait at that intersection.

But then the miracle happened. As I drove towards the light, it didn't change. And it didn't change. I even started to slow down, expecting it to change. I mean, I know the pattern of this light, right? And there was no way I was going to make it.

And then the lights on the through lanes changed to yellow - but still the arrow stayed green. I was now at decision time - do I stop or not? Will it change before I hit the moment of decision? As my foot hesitated over the brake pedal, still the arrow stayed green and the through lanes were about to flick to red. And still the arrow was green.

So I turned. And just as I completed the turn, the arrow changed to yellow, then red.

Now I know angels didn't appear (or did they?), and trumpets didn't sound but it was unexplainable and it was a particularly encouraging blessing to me.

That's a miracle.

Building cathedrals