Gen 3:4 (NIV) “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. The fear of death wasn’t keeping Adam and Eve from eating. The creative power of: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was keeping them from eating the fruit. They were the creation power words that were empowering them. As long as they had faith in them, they were safe. But, then Satan gave them some information that was pulling their faith away from its power.

Satan moved Eve’s attention off of the fact that God said it. Since God said it, that gave her power to not eat, and she could have walked away. But, as she allowed her attention to be drawn away from what God said, she started listening to what Satan had to say. That is always the problem with thinking that God’s words are assignments for you to try to obey.

You can believe God made a rule for you to obey; but, you think He wants you to fulfill it yourself. When you see them as creation power words, your faith and respect is in God and His Word. But, since Adam and Eve saw them as rules that they were responsible to keep, it made God’s words open to discussion. Once Satan gets the floor, he knows what to do next.

Next, Satan drew Eve’s attention to the penalty of the sin. “You will not surely die,” the serpent said. Obedience to God needs to be your motive. When He tells you what the consequences are, He is just trying to help you see He has your best interests in mind. He isn’t trying to motivate you to obey. He wants you to obey because you believe in His honesty and love for you. He wants you to obey because you love Him and believe in Him.

It mattered that GOD said Eve shouldn’t eat. It doesn’t matter what will happen to you if you disobey God. It matters that it is God Who loves you, has your best interest in mind, Who is brilliant, and sees the future. Because God is so wise, He always knows what is best. And, because God sees the future, He is always right about what is best. So, it matters that He is the One Who said it.

Eve had two sets of information, God’s words and Satan’s words. But, she wasn’t weighing the sources. She wasn’t considering WHO said those two opposing concepts. She was weighing WHAT was being said. That put her reasoning powers in control. She was asking her mind: “Does this particular case that is being presented to me, make sense?”

If you know WHO said it, then it won’t be so important WHAT was said. If you make all your decisions based on who said it, then it won’t matter whether or not it makes sense to you. As long as your faith is in God and God alone, then you will only allow His words to come into your life. Your only question will be, WHO is saying this to me? Once you know WHO is saying it, then you will know whether or not to believe it.

The Bible tells you what God has to say. If you are getting something that isn’t in the Bible or disagrees with the Bible, then it isn’t God talking. God always agrees with His Word. Satan always disagrees with God’s Word. His statement to Eve was in direct opposition to what God said. At first Satan puts himself on an equal plain with God. He is saying that God said you are going to die; I say you aren’t. Now, who are you going to believe, Him or me? Later, he will put himself on a superior level over God.

“You will not surely die.” The Bible is the Word of God. It is always right. God is always right. When God and His Word speak, there is no room for partial obedience. It is always presented in an absolute, take it or leave it fashion. Those who are in an intimate, respectful relationship with God and His Word, don’t want to have anything to do with disobeying God.

Who gave Adam and Eve the earth? Who gave them the garden of Eden? Who gave them all the animals to name? Who gave them all the trees to eat from? Who gave them their bodies? Who gave them each other? God did! And, HE was the One Who said: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” What had Satan done for them? NOTHING! And he was the one who said: “You will not surely die.” Who would you listen to?

The only hope Satan has with a person who has been so blessed by God is, he must get their mind off of God and the generosity of that environment. Now comes the “is this really fair” question. Eve had to believe that even though God did do all those wonderful things for her, she deserved more. Satan had to convince her that she was being lied to. Satan had to convince her that God was just trying to scare her into obeying Him. She had to believe that God was self-serving and was trying to cheat her out of something.

Rom 1:21 (NIV) For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. When you forget to be thankful or stop appreciating all that God has ALREADY done for you, you start concentrating on what God hasn’t done for you. You prayed for something and He said no. You thought He should do something for you and He wouldn’t do it. It can cease to matter to you what all God had already done for you. In that case, all you can see and think about is what you wanted that He wouldn’t give you.