Eve’s disobedience, my disobedience
“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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)
I started reading a new book yesterday afternoon. The book is titled “Legacy of Faith” (Lydia Brownback). When I looked at the content of the book, I saw the names of various women in the Bible. And I was curious to know what the author would say about each of them, so I started reading it. The first woman the author mentioned was “Eve”, the first woman of all mankind. After reading all about Eve, I came to my own conclusions: 'Eve was a disobedient woman.' Eve disobeyed God's command, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). She took the fruit and ate it and gave it to her husband who was with her’ (3:6). I had time to reflect on myself in Eve's disobedience to God's command. As I was doing this, I had three thoughts:
First, my disobedience is seeing ‘the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' that I should not see.
Look at Genesis 3:6a – “When the woman saw that the tree ….” Eve should not have seen the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I think that the fact that she began to see the tree had already begun to walk the path of disobedience in her mind. Obviously, God commanded not to eat from that tree. But when she saw the tree, “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise” (v. 6). When Eve began to see the tree, and eventually craved the fruit of the tree, she had already disobeyed the God’s command in her heart even before she ate the forbidden fruit. This reminds me the Bible Matthew 5:28 – “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The Bible says that to look at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Since what comes out of his heart is “adulteries and fornications” (Mt. 15:19), to look at the woman with lust is that he has already committed adultery with her in his heart, even if he has not slept with her. It is because he already has covetousness in his heart. Obviously, in Exodus 20:17 the Bible says, “You shall not covet your neighbor's house.” To covet your neighbor's wife is already committing adultery in your heart. Eve had already coveted the forbidden fruit in her heart. That was why she saw the tree. And the fact that when she had already harbored covetousness in her heart and looked at the fruit and the fruit was good for food, it is proof that she had already turned her gaze away from looking at God.
The Bible Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” When I do not look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and keep looking at ‘the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ that I should not see, then I already disobeyed God's command in my heart. Here, my ‘fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' are the words God has commanded 'Do not do', for example, the words ‘Do not look at a woman with lust’ (Mt. 5:28), ‘Do not trust in people who cannot save’ (Ps. 146:3), ‘Do not be arrogant’ (Jere. 13:15). Obviously, God has commanded me not to be arrogant, do not trust in people, and do not commit adultery. But if I see that myself is committing adultery in my heart, trusting in people with my heart, and proud of your heart, the reason is because I didn’t fix my eyes on the Lord but on myself and other people. I pray and pray that God will have pity and mercy on me that He may grant me the grace of repentance every day. I earnestly pray that I will turn my gaze from looking at myself and others and look only at the Lord who is the author and perfecter of my faith. Therefore, I pray that I will no longer commit the sin of disobeying the Lord's commands, but rather become God's child who humbly obeys the Lord's words by faith.
Second, my disobedience is listening to Satan's deceptive words that I should not listen to.
Look at Genesis 3:1-3: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" Eve should not have listened to the serpent at all, nor should she have conversed with the serpent. No matter how cunning the snake came and asked, ‘Did God really tell you not to eat all the fruit in the garden?’ (v. 1), there was no need for her to answer. She should have avoided it altogether. Joseph in Genesis 39 did just that. Even though the wife of Potiphar, the captain of the bodyguard of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt (v. 1), whom he was serving, spoke to Joseph day after day and asked him to lie with her, Joseph did not listen to her (v. 10). Moreover, Joseph was not even with her (v. 10). Then one day when Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was was inside, and she was alone (vv. 11-12). Then the woman caught Joseph by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But Joseph left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house (v. 12). Eve should have done like Joseph. But like the foolish young man without wisdom in Proverbs chapter 7 (v. 7), who passed through the street near the corner of an adulteress, and took the way to her house (v. 8), Eve not only approached and saw the forbidden fruit, but also approached and heard the words of the serpent, whom she should kept away from (Gen. 3:1ff). Not only that, but Eve mixed the words with the serpent. She should have avoided that place. She should have ignored the serpent and left the place. This is evidence that she was ignoring God's word. And it is evidence that she valued the snake's words in her covetousness.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 5:27, “'Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says ….” Like Moses, I also have to come closer to God and listen to everything God says to me. But there are many times when I disobey God and rather listen to Satan more quickly. Although I have to listen to the voice of God that the Holy Spirit tells us while thinking about the word of truth and meditating on it, there are many times I am mixing up Satan's lies in the realm of my thinking. When I think about why I am thinking of Satan's words of delusion, I think that the cause is my own greed. In the end, I am drawn and deceived by my lust (Jam. 1:14). As a result, I depart from the truth (5:19) and be tempted (1:14), disregarding the voice of God and committing the sin of disobedience. I pray and pray that God will have pity on me and that he will have mercy on me and grant me the grace of repentance every day. I pray that God will open the ears of my heart so that there will be no true joy but the voice of the Lord. Therefore, I pray that I will become a disciple of the Lord who no longer secretly dislikes Satan's sweet whispers, but prefers to listen to the voice of God, and enjoys the joy of obeying His word.
Third and last, my disobedience is not being afraid of the consequences of the sin of disobedience.
Look at Genesis 2:16-17: “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’” God clearly commanded, ‘You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ He even said, “in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” But Eve was deceived by the serpent and ate the fruit (3:6). She disobeyed God's command. Eve chose the path of disobedience, despite God's promise that she would surely die in the day she ate of the fruit. To that extent she coveted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, rather than fearing the consequences of her own sinful choice. In this way, covetousness made Eve to want the fruit of the tree that was good for food, the delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise, rather than fear of the consequences of sin, and eventually led her to eat the fruit of the tree (v. 6). Because she is so far from God and close to the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she made the sinful choice to satisfy the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, but was not afraid of the great consequence of that sinful choice. It is proof that she was not afraid of God.
In Numbers 14:34, the Bible says, “According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.” Of the 12 spies Moses sent to search for Canaan, the Promised Land, the remaining 10 spies, except for Caleb and Joshua, reported bad reviews and unbelief to the people of Israel, making them discouraged, weeping and crying (Num. 13:31-33; 14:1, 11). As a result, all of the Israelites, except Caleb and Joshua, who were counted over the age of 20, who complained to God, were not allowed to enter the Promised Land of Canaan (14:28-30). They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and suffered for their unfaithfulness, until their corpses lied in the wilderness (v. 33). And they were destroyed in the wilderness (v. 35). It was the result of disbelief in God and disobedience to His word. In my case, too, my first baby died in my arms about 19 years ago as a result of distrusting God and disobeying Him. Even after suffering the consequences of my unrepentant sins, when I see myself committing sins without fear of God before a holy God, I cannot but seek His mercy. I am asking God for help. I want to live in obedience to the word of God. Like Jesus, I want to pray, ‘Not my will, Your will be done’ (Mt. 26:39). And I pray that I will become a disciple of Jesus who obeys the Lord’s will until I die (Phil. 2:8).