So last night I write my post, hit publish, and go read in bed like I do every night. Right now I am reading No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. The subtitle explains what it is about: "Confronting our modern day idols". Very good and I highly recommend it! Anyway..... Keep in mind that this is happening less than 15 minutes after I posted about this annoyingly haunting question that won't leave me alone. I flip open the book to my chapter for the night entitled "Lies". She is sharing some ah-ha moments from a discussion based on the Genesis 3 passage about Eve's temptation and man's fall. This is what my eyes run across (sorry but it is quite lengthy):
When I think of the lies I am prone to embrace, I realize that many of them begin as questions. It's not as often that I'm thrown by someone or something that comes right out and denounces my set of beliefs. Those are a lot easier to dismiss. But more often I am sent down a doubtful path when my beliefs are simply questioned. Because a statement doesn't require a response, but a question demands an answer. When a person or idea asks, "Did God really say?" suddenly we are in a state of thought, reason, and possible defense. A question engages us in ways that statements do not. I have to believe that Satan knew this.
But here's where things get trickier than I ever realized: Not only did the Serpent begin with a question, but his question was fundamentally flawed. "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" There's something eerily wrong with this question - notice the word any. God did not say that Adam and Eve couldn't eat from any tree in the garden. He said they could not eat from one. Just one. This is a world of difference. If Satan can lure us into disputing the wrong question, in a sense we have already lost.
I know this one too well. I have spent countless hours wasting my energy on things that didn't deserve it. I have spent exorbitant amounts of time fighting the wrong questions. Though I do not pretend the Christian life is neatly packaged or cut and dried, the Bible is full of countless truths that can keep me from having to enter countless unnecessary wrestling matches. Too many times I've limped away broken and bruised, only to hear God say, "I never asked you to fight this one."
When I ponder the time I have wrestled with lies, often I find myself set up in the same way Eve was - to fight the wrong question.
I near about fell out of my bed! Can we give a little praise for God's timing!? What a blessing and release for me! Today, the question has been silent and I honestly had forgotten all about it until I did my daily blog check. God is SO good!!!
1 comment:
Hey Dana, it's Justin here, Justin Vasquez. I was sitting on Facebook earlier today and I was thinking about people from the past and your name popped into my head so I threw it into Facebook and out you came. And now I see that you've only been on there for 9 days! So I saw your link to this page and read the last post... which told me to read the one before it, so I read that one and then the last one, and I have to tell you, after reading just those two posts... I'm tempted to go back to the beginning and read it all. As far as books go, I'm not a big reader. I have a small stack of books, I've been meaning to read, including a daily devotional, but I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to that, but when something grabs me, I have to read more. So I may have to go back and dig in a little because these posts reminded me that God can amaze us and make us nearly fall out of our chairs, or beds as the case may be. I've lost sight of those things in recent weeks/months... years perhaps. I admire your dedication and devotion though. I just wanted you to know that. You can write me back on Facebook if you like. I just figured I'd write to you on here because this is where I did my reading. ;)
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