two questions

I've heard sermons on Genesis 3 (or maybe they include Genesis 3 somewhere in the main message) a few times in the past year, not to mention we studied Genesis last year for FG, but today, a new verse caught my attention and it got me thinking (though none of this was part of the sermon today LOL) —

Normally, I've been taken aback every time by verse 9, when God calls out to Adam, "Where are you?" It's not like God doesn't know where Adam is, it's not like God doesn't know what has transpired in the garden. But the fact that He even asks shows this longing for a personal relationship with Adam, one where there is dialogue and genuine care.

But today, verse 11 caught my attention when God asks, "Who told you that you were naked?" Of course, it says in verse 7 that "the eyes of both [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they realized they were naked," so I suppose technically, no one really told them that they were naked straight up. But how were their eyes "opened" to their nakedness? By succumbing to Satan's temptation to eat the forbidden fruit...so you could say that indirectly, it was Satan who told them that they were naked.

In Twelve Extraordinary Women, John MacArthur also points out verse 1, when the serpent asks Eve, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" I never really read that verse too closely, but every time I read it now, I can just hear an oily, conspiratory voice (yes, voices can be oily...) saying, "Did God really say...?"

These two questions are so interestingly parallel to one another. In one question, Satan is questioning God's authority; in the other question, God is questioning...well...anyone else's authority apart from His. And it's interesting how this dichotomy plays out in our own lives because though we acknowledge that God is all-mighty and all-knowing and all-loving, we're more prone to tune into Satan's question. Though we say that we earnestly believe that God's promises are real and true and the only ones that will NEVER be broken, we get trapped into contemplating Satan's question over and over again. Though we want to profess that God's relationship with us individually is personal and intimate, we begin to question...all because of Satan's question.

Did God really say that He would never leave you nor forsake you?

Did God really say that He had plans to prosper you and not to harm you?

Did God really say that He would utterly amaze you, that He would do something in your days that you would not believe?

Sometimes we sit around and we legitimately think these questions through — Did God really say those things? Or did He say that only if we were good and learned all the right things to say and do, He would be with us and empower us? Did He say that His plans were the right ones for us...except we would have to be completely miserable because we would have to give up on our perfectly-crafted dreams? Did He say that only other people would be able to see His glory, but not us, because we're not holy or special enough?

But God stops us and says, "Who told you that?"

Who told you that you were worthless?

Who told you that you were unloved?

Who told you that you were beyond repair and reconciliation?

Who would dare question MY authority and pervert your eyes, heart, and mind into perceiving and believing those lies?

Of course, the answer is - as it has been since the time of Adam and Eve - Satan.

P. Young is always telling us how "spiritual warfare is real" but to be honest, up until quite recently, I never quite understood what he meant. I guess I understood at a church-wide level, that Satan is always trying to quash the growth of a church, of Christianity in general. But the force of an individual-level attack is super-real too, and when we let our guards down, the impact is huge. It's really scary...but there is no fear in love.

God's love ultimately protects us from the eternal repercussions of Satan's attacks - for God so loved the world! When God asks in Gen 3:11, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?", He knows the answer; He knows what's coming next, and He knows what He must do to save us. Of course, He didn't have to, but He loved us that much. And with the question of, "Who told you?", He's asking us to remember who's trying to separate us from that love — even though he'll ultimately fail.