One of the things I dislike most in life is having someone lie to me. I’ve said for years that there are two things I never want to be called: lazy or a liar. We gained the ability to lie from Satan. He is the great deceiver and the father of lies.
John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
His means of convincing Eve was to lie to her. His plan was to make Eve believe God was holding out on her. He wanted to get her focused on what she couldn’t have, instead of all that she did have. She had been blessed with everything anyone could ever want. God had given one command. They were not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, but the entire rest of the world was theirs!
Genesis 2:15-17 “And the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Eve’s first mistake was engaging in conversation with Satan. All Satan had to do was get her to question what God had said. He wanted God to seem restrictive and harsh, but the truth was that God started with a positive command. Satan jumped right over the positive aspects of the garden to the one thing they were not to do.
Genesis 3:1-5 “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? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.”
Satan does the same for us. He gets us to focus on what we don’t have instead of the blessings we do have. We begin to question God and feel as if we have been mistreated. Our questioning is not because we want answers, it’s because we don’t like what God is doing. If he were to give us answers and explain our situations to us, we still would not like it. We would want to reason with God, in hopes of convincing him to do it our way. We sometimes have the spoiled brat mentality. We’re like the child who has every toy in the store except one. When he realizes there is one he doesn’t have, he throws a fit until he gets it.
We have become ungrateful for all that God has done for us. We have believed the lie that he is holding out on us. The sin of pride rises within us to make us feel we deserve better. Pride leads us to an ungrateful attitude. When we are ungrateful, it is impossible to properly praise and thank Him. An ungrateful heart focuses on what we don’t have, not on what we do have.
In Psalm 50:14, we are told to offer God thanksgiving. He wants an offering that comes from the heart, expressive of true gratitude and praise. In Old Testament times, they were to offer animal sacrifices, but he implies that a higher sacrifice was necessary. Albert Barnes’ commentary states that animal sacrifices would be vain and worthless unless they were accompanied by the offerings of the heart.
Psalm 50:14 “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:”
The next time you feel you have been deprived of something, stop! Take note of all your blessings. Think of what life would be like without the blessings you already have, then drop to your knees, and thank God by offering a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
