10/3/12
S: Genesis 3:2-3 The woman said to the snake, "We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’"
O: God had actually told them, "Eat your fill from all of the garden’s trees; but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it, you will die!" (Genesis 2:16-17) There was no mention of touching it. Perhaps Adam had added the "don't touch" part as a further hedge against the sin?
I wonder if perhaps because Eve saw that nothing happened when she touched the fruit, that she might have thought, "Gosh, I touched it, and nothing happened!" and so was emboldened to eat it?
While it is good to put further hedges before the point of sin, we might need to keep in mind that those hedges are man-made. Just like a fence put a foot from the cliff, if you climb over that fence, you've not yet fallen off the cliff edge, but you're in serious danger territory.
A: Even if after we have stepped over our man-made fences, no terrible consequence happens to us, we must not proceed any further! We're in dangerous territory!
P: Father, may I stay on the safe side of those fences. If I find that I have given in to temptation to climb over them, I need to climb back over to the safe side before it's too late. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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