When you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. (Genesis 3:5)
To be sure, there is much to be understood about the first temptation in the Garden of Eden that the devil delivered to Adam and Eve. There are many layers to the lies of the devil, but at bottom, was the temptation of self-sufficiency. Made by God, for God, Adan and Eve were to live in total and utter dependence upon God, as it says, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). It was God’s divine design for mankind to live in conscious, continuous, and consistent dependence upon Him.
In this first temptation of self-sufficiency, the devil tempted man to live in autonomy (a state of self-governing self-sufficiency) from the Almighty. So strong was this temptation presented by the devil, Eve first, followed by Adam, “saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, took some and ate it” (Genesis 3:6). But the good news of the gospel shows up immediately when God pursues rebels on the run, promises to send a Savior, and then graciously works in the lives of His people to cause them to realize their total dependence upon Him. That is the summary of the entire story-line of God’s people Israel. Here is how Moses described it.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeing you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
When they were hungry, God fed them. When they were thirsty, God gave them water to drink. You would think after forty years in the desert the Israelites would not need any reminders of their total dependence upon God and how He met their every need. But they did . . . and so do we. Regardless of where we live and where this finds us, we are as dependent upon God to meet our needs as the Israelites were in their wilderness experience. How instructive to read, “causing you to hunger and then feeding you.” Regardless of the need, God has promised to meet it in the glorious riches of Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
Here is a great way to cause us to remember just how dependent we are upon God: What do you have that you have not been given? Everything we have comes from God and the more we have the more we are in debt to the One who has given it to us. Now, what we receive from the hand of God may not seem as miraculous as the food and water in the desert, but through His providential care, most often, using ordinary and mundane means, it is and we are to see it that way in order to slay the sin of self-sufficiency.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 