Did God Really Say?

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

Today’s big question: did God really say . . . ?

There really is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Since the time of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, nothing has really changed. The only time this world was vastly different was during the short period before the Fall.

While we may have advanced in technology, we continue to be under the effects of the Fall. We constantly struggle in our relationship with God, and we are all born with the self-seeking desire to be our own king. In Genesis, this desire started when we fell prey to the Genesis 3 attack. The serpent questioned the very Word of God by asking, “Has God indeed said . . . .”

Did God really say . . . ? This question continues to appeal to the pride of mankind. By questioning God in this way, we are enticing our self-seeking nature to suggest that we can wear our own crown. The fruit on the sin tree always looks pleasing to the eye, tasty, and puts us in a position of being our own god. What if I can wear my own crown? I want to do what I want to do. I want my own pleasure to be supreme. I want my own thinking to be preeminent. The Genesis 3 attack says that our word is supreme over the Word of God. Did God really say . . . ?

This attack has never changed. From the time of Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David—all the way to the present day—we see a history of God dealing with a rebellious humanity consistently questioning His Word, resulting in numerous examples of explicit idolatry. The world has used the Genesis 3 attack to reject God’s moral code for our own self-seeking pleasure and kingship.

However, this is most damaging when the church attempts to appease the world by compromising its stance on God’s truth by partnering with the Genesis 3 attack. The adoption of the philosophies of millions of years and evolutionary thinking has resulted in believers questioning the historical foundation of biblical Christian doctrine.

Today the Genesis 3 attack is vehemently directed at the book of Genesis. If God didn’t really give us a reliable history, then how can we believe He has given us a reliable Savior? In this way, the Genesis 3 attack has always been an attack against Jesus. Defending the truth of God’s Word is therefore of supreme importance.

Today’s big idea: God did say, and He is completely reliable.

Today’s prayer: ask God to reveal to you areas of your life where you put yourself above His Word.