The Plan Part 2 ...The Apple Still Offered

Genesis 3, verses 1-7. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Was it an apple? It says it was fruit that came from a tree. Not sure where the apple comes from, but it was fruit from the tree of “knowledge of good and evil”. God told them they could eat from the garden, but not to eat from that particular tree. The serpent, satan, comes to them and challenges them to think differently. Check out the underlined parts of the verse above.

Sound familiar? Does God actually exist? Is this story about apples really true? Come on, creation? Do you really think a loving God would send people to hell?

Hey listen, satan is still challenging us. He’s waving pieces of fruit in front of us and disputing whether God is trying to deceive us, setting us up for punishments or if He even exists. God tells us stuff through His word, the Bible. He tells us these things for our own good so that we can be in good standing with Him just as Adam and Eve were before they followed satan’s challenge. Can you hear the whisper coming to you? Challenging you about whether Adam and Eve even existed. By the way, what do you and who do you believe?

Do you believe in God? If so, do you believe God? This is so important. Read the blog posts on this site, “A Knock at the Door” and “Whose Track Are You On”. Ask God to give you clarity and insight to who He is. God says in His word in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” There’s that voice again challenging you to go in the other direction, asking you if you think that will actually work. Let me tell you, it worked for me.

So, getting back to fruit, what’s yours? Sexual addiction, gambling, anger, your career, money, drugs, alcohol. The list could go on since each of us has different apples being offered to us. Things that have a strong hold on us. Things that satan asks if God really cares if we do them, and goes on to say you will not fall from God’s favor if you do them. After all, you are only human and God made you this way. If you believe in God then, you are going to have to believe Him. You will need to have faith that God is looking out for you. Consider these scriptures.

2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Deuteronomy 30: 19-20, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days.

Hebrews 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Satan would have you believe the opposite of every scripture written. There is no word from God, there is nothing special about Jesus, everyone goes to heaven so do whatever you like, or there is no God so eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. The fruit that satan offers is doubt and disbelief with a desire to be happy right here and right now. Grab for all the gusto, be all that you can be because you deserve it. Satan is a great conductor of the symphony of thoughts and desires, circling us from the world at large combined with our fleshly desires. It continues on and on until we are grabbing for all we can get no matter how we get it or who we need to climb over. You might call it a “Me First world”. A world where we choose ourselves over God and experience the fruits of our choices.

God offers us a relationship which we break by choosing ourselves. In doing so, we enter into sin by turning our back on Him and breaking the relationship He initiated and offers.

Isaiah 59:1, 2 says, Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

See our previous blog post, "The Plan...In His Image".