“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

I would like to trek back to Genesis 3 today and look at the fall of Creation. 

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.  “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.  “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
[Genesis 3: 1-6; NLT, BibleGateway.com]

I feel like I've been so harsh on the first two people who existed.  There’s so many other options, I think to myself,  why did you have to choose the one that was disobeying God?  

As if their goal was to separate themselves from ultimate beauty and perfect love. As if the thoughts in their mind were something along the lines of “today I want my actions to go against the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” As if they were thinking about the bigger picture. As if they were thinking about the character of God that they had come to know: was this idea that He could be holding back from us in line with His nature? I don’t think they thought about any of that.

You know what?
When we find ourselves sinning, I don’t think we think about any of that either.

The serpent -that embodiment of evil and sin- knows how to veer us off course. Disobedience doesn't normally look like an active choice to go against the Father; generally, it looks the same as how it did with Eve, an idea that God's plans for us are holding back, and that we can fill the gaps and take matters into our own hands. 

The only difference is that Sin is no longer a talking serpent; it's the people around us, it's our own minds, it's the world that screams loud about "independence" and "bigger is better" and "what feels good has to be good for you".  Sin is still deceitful, and God is still good, wanting to meet with us, wanting what is best for us. 

Sin still whispers into our ears, lying about God, telling us that He's not who He says He is. Twisting His words. Trying to break down the foundations we stand on. The serpent decieves us, so we eat. We take part in the fruit that kills us, in the disobedience that breaks us down.

I still feel like I've been too harsh on Eve, on Adam.  They drank the Kool-Aid of believing they know what's best, yes. So have I.  Sin convinced them that disobedience wasn't as detrimental as it really is, just as it's done countless times in my story and just as it will do more times in my life and in the world today.

Be on guard. Have faith in who God is. Take an active part in crushing the serpent's head and thank God for having His heel bruised in order to save the likes of us.

Eden is coming reconciling with creation in the Kingdom of Heaven's invasion. Let's know who our Maker is and know that His way is best.