Daily Devotionals

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Wednesday

"The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5

The other day my friends and I had a game night. Our first game was one of my favorites; I easily won the game. I am sorry to say I bragged a little bit. I was incredibly proud of myself. I had a great time until we played the next game, which I had never played before. It was brand new to me. Unfortunately, I completely lost the game. I came in last place. After I dusted off my pride, I realized that I had let my pride get the best of me. Humility quickly reminded me to keep my pride in check. The truth is pride is destructive 100% of the time. It does not just destroy a fun game night. It destroys our relationships and our lives as well.

We see quickly in Genesis 3 that one of the reasons that Eve took the fruit and ate from it was pride. Satan came to her one day in the garden as a serpent and asked her, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” (verse 1). Eve responded by saying that God told her that God had permitted them to eat from any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if they ate from that tree, they would die (verse 9). The serpent responded, saying, “Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil” (verses 4-5). Satan, the master of lies and deception, told them that eating from the fruit would make them like God because they would know good and evil if they ate it. Eve decided she wanted to be like God and have this knowledge, which is one of the reasons she took the fruit and ate it (verse 6). She wanted to be like God, which is the essence of pride. From that day on, pride has been a struggle for each of us. 

Even today, Pride gets in the way. It keeps us from living the lives God has called us to live. It is destructive and is one of the reasons why things are not the way they were intended to be. Pride was never the way God intended for humanity. Instead, we can choose humility, recognizing that He is God and we are not. When we embrace humility, we gain deeper relationships and take a step closer to the way that God intended things to be.

Moving toward action

Because pride is sneaky, sometimes we must reflect to see if we have any pride in our lives. Take a few moments now to pray. Ask God to reveal any areas of pride in your life. Then, listen for Him to show you these areas where pride has crept in. Confess these areas to Him. Ask Him to help you let go of pride and embrace humility instead.

Going Deeper

Genesis 3:1-6 (NLT)

"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?"

2 "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. 3 "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.'"

4 "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. 5 "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."

6 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."