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’
‘YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE,’ THE SERPENT SAID TO THE WOMAN
(Genesis 3:2-4).
Notice that there are two sources of counsel available to you: God’s Counsel and Satan’s counsel.
Listen to God’s Counsel:
TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART
AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING;
IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM,
AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.
DO NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES;
FEAR THE LORD AND SHUN EVIL
(Proverbs 3:5-7).
Notice that Satan’s counsel opposes God’s Counsel…resists God’s instruction…attacks God’s Word:
Do not trust God,
Instead, rely on your own perceptions,
Trust your own interpretations and believe everything you think.
Try and figure everything out for yourself,
for your mind is sufficient to supply all the explanations you need.
Have faith in your own common sense.
Then, everything will turn out OK.
THE MIND OF SINFUL MAN IS DEATH, BUT THE MIND CONTROLLED BY THE SPIRIT IS LIFE AND PEACE
(Romans 8:6).
Do you have Life and Peace? If not, whose counsel do you heed, daily? Who controls your mind, moment-by-moment?
Are you willing to follow a different Counsel? I challenge you to stop trying to figure things out for yourself. Instead, ask God for His Perspective…and see what happens.
PRAYER: Lord God, may I trust YOU with all my heart and refrain from being wise in my own eyes, but acknowledge Your Perspective in everything I do and think.
Maintain an Awareness
Discipline, the training to enter God’s Holiness, cannot be exercised AFTER we have already entered a route of escape to resort to a sinful solution.