Clinging to Hope: Daily Scriptural Meditations

TUESDAY, 2 JULY 2024

TEXT: Genesis 3:1-13

1. Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2. The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden.

3. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

4. “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.

5. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6. Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it]; she also gave [some] to her husband, [who was] with her, and he ate [it].

7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

8. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9. So the LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10. And he said, “I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

11. Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I had commanded you not to eat from?”

12. Then the man replied, “The woman You gave to be with me-she gave me [some fruit] from the tree, and I ate.”

13. So the LORD God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “It was the serpent. He deceived me, and I ate.”

(Holmans CS Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: BE CAREFUL WITH THE ANTICS OF SATAN

God desires to have a wonderful relationship with mankind and gave His terms to Adam and Eve. They were expected to be obedient to Him, especially regarding the tree in the middle of the garden.

Because the devil always wants to destroy God's plans for our lives, he will seek to distract us from the ways of the Lord.

Today's text is about the conversation between the woman and the serpent and how Satan made them doubt the word of God by eating the fruit of the tree they were instructed not to eat. This broke their relationship with God and made them think that they could hide from His presence.

We must always obey the injunctions of the Lord if we desire to continue in a wonderful relationship with Him as disobedience will always distance us away from Him.

QUESTION: How do your respond to the instructions of the word of God daily?

PRAYERS: Help me, dear Lord, to do the things You have instructed me to do, even when the world questions those things, in Jesus name. Amen.