1 Peter 5:8 (here @ Bible Gateway) reminds us that the enemy of our Lord is absolutely committed to destroy us. That is not a new development since the founding of the Church. It started in the garden.
Consider Genesis 3:1 (here @ Bible Gateway). Here the enemy attacks not the one whom the commands were given but one who was dependent on learning the commands from him who was charged with those commands. Observe what the enemy does. He calls into question the Word of God. The Word of God that she would have had to have heard from her husband.
Eve did not have direct knowledge of what the Lord had said. She only had what Adam had told her. Adam either failed to communicate clearly, did not follow up with Eve to make sure she understood, or Eve did not take what Adam told her seriously.
You know the result.
Both were at fault, this is not about assigning blame to either. They both shared in the sin and the result.
However, the situation does allude to two elements of the enemy’s preferred way of taking down God’s people.
First, the enemy calls into question the truth, accuracy, and application of God’s Word. He attacks those who are most familiar with the Word, have the responsibility to equip others to understand and apply that Word, and he calls the Word into question for those who are dependent on others to equip them.
Second, he will do all that he can to muddle the transmission of the Word of God from one generation to another.
The enemy knows the power of God’s Word. It is in his best interests to continually cast dispersions on the reliability and usefulness of the Word. It is our responsibility to closely guard the Word. To carefully and continually equip those whom the Lord has allowed us to serve to handle that Word accurately.
It is not just a good program for our communities. It is essential, critical for survival.
Eve did not have direct knowledge of what the Lord had said. She only had what Adam had told her. Adam either failed to communicate clearly, did not follow up with Eve to make sure she understood, or Eve did not take what Adam told her seriously.
You know the result.
Both were at fault, this is not about assigning blame to either. They both shared in the sin and the result.
However, the situation does allude to two elements of the enemy’s preferred way of taking down God’s people.
First, the enemy calls into question the truth, accuracy, and application of God’s Word. He attacks those who are most familiar with the Word, have the responsibility to equip others to understand and apply that Word, and he calls the Word into question for those who are dependent on others to equip them.
Second, he will do all that he can to muddle the transmission of the Word of God from one generation to another.
The enemy knows the power of God’s Word. It is in his best interests to continually cast dispersions on the reliability and usefulness of the Word. It is our responsibility to closely guard the Word. To carefully and continually equip those whom the Lord has allowed us to serve to handle that Word accurately.
It is not just a good program for our communities. It is essential, critical for survival.
When Moses recounted in Deuteronomy the "Ten Words" God had originally given His people 40 years before (in Exodus 20) he exhorted them throughout to "hear" (28 times) and "remember" (15 times). They didn't even make it into the Promised Land just a few weeks after these exhortations.
ReplyDeleteAs I looked at this recently, and with Genesis 3 fresh in mind, I had to ask myself, "How well do I remember?" Tragically my "forgetter" is far better than my "rememberer." Far too many examples paraded through my mind.
There is one thing I am learning to remember, the great reality of passages such as Romans 8:1 that fill the Bible, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...."
With "feet" firmly planted in the grace of Christ, mine because of His unimaginable suffering, I can get up again, believe His promises of His presence with me and keep up the fight against the "sin that so easily besets me...."
May His grace be ever exalted!
Thanks for the reminder and challenge to take the Word seriously.
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