Eat with a long spoon by Pastor W.F Kumuyi
MEDITATIONS ON DAILY MANNA
WEDNESDAY 10TH JULY 2024.
EAT WITH A LONG SPOON
TEXT: GENESIS 3:1-13.
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Timeless Truth: “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1 Corinthians 15:33.
INTRODUCTION
It was thought to be a friendly discussion and the friend appeared to be loving and resourceful. He appeared to be kindhearted giving information seemed needed. Eve fell for it without knowing the certain generational eternal consequences. It was all a deception, a scam; but she knew and accepted the reality too late.
If Eve had dined with a long spoon, the story might have been different for the first couple and the human race. Eating with a long spoon* is the proverbial saying in the late 14th century, meaning that one should be cautious when dealing with dangerous persons. The strategies of the devil and his evil agents in getting the careless have not changed and the terrible repercussions are still the same.
The text shows us how the great fall of man from the friendship, presence and glory of God happened. The method of the devil has not changed “for we are not ignorant of his devices”. For the wise, the only escape route is to always eat with a long spoon.
1. Communication with Camouflage
a. The serpent was Satan himself, a fallen arch angel of God. This is well known in (Revelation 12:9 and 20:2). Just like angels appeared in human form in the Old Testament, Satan camouflaged and indwelt the serpent in such a way that it was not strange to Eve. One of the characteristics or descriptives nature of this Satan is not honesty and neither is it wisdom. It is subtilty or cunningness.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD had made”. Genesis 3:1. He is never straight forward so that you will not know his purpose and plans.
b. The first step was to create a relationship of confidence and trust with Eve for this might not have been the first time of his visit. The next was to question the Word of God. Questioning the Word of God so as to know the truth is different from questioning the Word of God so as to create doubts in the Word of God.
The adversaries, including some philosophers, still use this old method. Once your finite mind starts kicking against or questioning the Word of the Omniscience God as a matter of doubts, it is no more an innocent inquiry, but Satan is behind it. When he got the attention of Eve, he moved from the casting doubts to bold and outright contradiction of the Word of God with his own corrupted philosophy expecting Eve to swallow it and indeed she did.
Boldness or confidence is one of the traits of those who have large followership even when they are into deceptions and errors. Engaging in a friendly communication with the devil and his agents is a great mistake with eternal consequences that Eve made. Like many people, I guess, she was carried away by the beauty, brilliance, brotherhood and brightness of Satan as an angel of light. She should have avoided the communication totally because no man can outsmart Satan, we can only overcome him.
Believers are asked to “resist the devil and he will flee from you”. James 4: 7. We are to resist his advances, thoughts, reasoning and friendship. Satan will forever, as well as his agents, remain incorrigibly wicked no matter how deceitfully friendly they may present themselves. When his reasoning and thoughts are accommodated by man, the next is to bring in utter contradiction of the Word of God.
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” The next thing was to create confusion in the heart of the simple. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”.vs5. Don’t you think that cajole might have confused Eve?
He cast doubts and confused Eve on the truthfulness and goodness of God. Eve could have easily reasoned: Why didn’t God tell us the truth? When this thing is so good for food, why is God denying us something good? Is God truly good to us? In the end, Satan looked good while God looked hard and difficult to man. Obviously the devil exploited the ignorance of Eve to have deceived and confused her with partial truth with damnable consequences.
When the knowledge of the Word of God is not complete, Satan will exploit that to confuse and deceive. The problem with backsliders and many apostates is not lack of the knowledge of the Bible, but incomplete or distorted knowledge. Eve was left with the option of either believing God or Satan. Unfortunately, she decided to be deceived.
The christian principle is to study the Word of God diligently and understand and those you don’t understand you balance by faith. God is all knowing and all loving with no form of deception in Him. “Thy word is truth”. “The scriptures can not be broken”. “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times,” Psalm 12:6.
Half or partial truth is falsehood. It was later discovered that Satan was the liar. Their eyes were opened, but they were not as gods. Those who have been deceived into false religion, false philosophy and demonism against the clear Word of God will also discover they were thoroughly and truly deceived and end up living eternally in hell fire with the devil and demons. The only solution is repentance and faith in Christ redemption.
Question
In which way is Satan still using the same wiles against you and your ministry?
2. Concentrating on Carnality
a. The devil succeeded in distracting and deceiving Eve into concentrating and fixing her eyes and mind on the lies of Satan. “the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise”. vs6.
We can see lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life respectively combined here just like the three temptations of our Lord Jesus. The old serpent still uses the old methods to seduce and tempt the careless, 1 John 2:15-17. Wow, how did she know that it was “good for food” before she tasted it? Satanic manipulation. How did she conclude that “it is pleasant to the eyes” guarantee that it is not poisonous? Foolishness. How did she conclude that it will “make one wise” before she ate it? Deception and faith in what Satan said.
How did she get into this eternal mess? Concentrating and pondering on the lies and philosophy of Satan rather than concentrating on what the Word of God said and holding on to it very tightly as final in all matters of life will lead to damnation.
b. Concentrating on objects of temptations is a sure way to fall into seduction. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,” Colossians 3:2. There are none who concentrate on earthly things that will be able to please God and enter heaven. *”Let the word of God dwell in you richly”* and always bind and reject every evil thought from the devil.
Question
Do you concentrate on the Scriptures and heavenly things or on evil philosophy and worldly things?
3. Consequences of Carelessness
The consequences of that singular disobedience were never imagined by the couple in the same way the adversary will always belittle the consequences of sinning. First was a loss of innocence. And that brought a guilty conscience to the point that hearing the voice of God which should have been a delight and source of joy became a terror and fear to them. “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid”.vs 10 The Adamic nature, like that of all sinners, will not go to God except through much persuasion by the soulwinners and the Holy Spirit.
Their friendly relationship with God was gone and the voice of God became a terror. All sinners are still like this. Second, the shekinah glory of God which covered them like a cloud departed and they became naked to their shame. “I was naked and hid myself”. Eve knew that the glory of God had departed. The sinful nature she received made her seduced Adam.
The character of true love that would not like her husband to lose the glory of God was also gone. Adam also was expected to have seen that the glory had departed from Eve, yet he decided to have a bite of death in the name of conjugal love, perhaps. He ate it. Curses eventually followed and they lost the paradise of Eden.
b. The character and the nature of all sinners are not different from that of the fallen first couple and the only remedy is heart transformation through the new birth given by the Lord Jesus Christ. *”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”* 2 Corinthians 5:17
Prayer Points
1.Praise God for His mercy that revealed the fall of man to know the source and the solution to the fall .
2 Pray that God will expose all the evils of Adamic nature in you and purge you thoroughly by the blood of Jesus. (You may be specific).
3.Pray that you will never be deceived into listening to the adversary any more, but that your faith will be fixed on the Word of God .
4.Pray for the deliverance and victory for those brethren being seduced by Satan and his agents.
HYMN: Christian Walk Carefully
Bible in One Year: GENESIS 29-31.
Read, meditate, pray, and share with others. God bless you as you do so.
