Watch out
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Gen 3:1
Check your blind spots
“Oh be careful little ears what you hear. For the father up above is looking down with love. Oh be careful little ears what you hear”. As the children belted this familiar verse with zeal, I sat wondering if the truth in the message resonated with them. For me as a child, I am certain I did not. As moms, however, we know what they hear can influence them for good or bad. As we continue to move through the Genesis, we come quickly upon the fall of man. At its start, let’s see how it begins to unfold with the whispers from a serpent.
Just another day
Eve stood in paradise without want or need when the serpent greeted her. Scripture does not offer her initial response to the talking snake so this leads me to ponder my own. Currently, if a snake even appears on the horizon, I will not linger long enough to determine if it just wants to chat. That space that is occupies is scorched earth as far as I’m concerned, and I will leave it to the snake to take possession of it but I digress! For Eve, however, scripture does not suggest she minded at all that a snake had approached her or found its ability to speak unusual. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe all the animals were a rather chatty crew and this one was no different. Maybe, this was just another day in the garden for her. Or could it be her naiveness, since their eyes were not open yet to the existence of evil, caused her to not see the truth behind the sly tongue? Whichever the case, it seemed to have started as just another day in the garden.
In the not knowing
Let’s first consider the possibility of their naiveness. With life experience comes, tough lessons to learn but as a mom I constantly walk the line between which lessons my children need to learn the hard the way and which ones to get in front of to save them from the pain. Preventive measures from injures at a hot stove and covered wall sockets to keep them safe from their curiosity in their very early years to name a few instances. At some point, however the covers on the sockets can come off and the worry about the stove begins to fade because they eventually begin to perceive the danger and better understand the warnings and their curiosity is no longer able to overcome this. They knew better so they respond differently. In the space of not knowing leaves a gap that curiosity can fill and leave vulnerable to space to be unable to perceive danger. Satan used their (lest we forget Adam was there too) not knowing a snake or anything in the garden for that matter could be deceptive as a doorway to stock curiosity. It was such an effective method He even tried this on Jesus (Matt 4:5-7) and continues this tactic today attempting to use our lack of knowledge to lead us astray.
Check your blind spots
The question posed by satan in disguise began a conversation by assessing her knowledge. The difficulty here is we don’t always know what we don’t know. We may think we understand fully but a slight truth might sound just as valid as the actual truth at times if we are not careful. “He disguises himself as an angel of light”, 2 Cor 11:4. Satan in disguise will come under the guise of speaking truth which he has distorted to attempt to lead us astray. If he came at us, fire spewing and pitchfork wielding we would take heed and run. Instead, he comes less threatening with a soft word or in a way we may routinely encounter in our day to day. Otherwise, his traps wouldn’t be traps.
Satan’s attempts on our lives and the lives of our children will not always be black or white. He will exist in the gray causing us to question what we thought we knew or exploit the areas we only know just a little. These blind spots exist for all of us from the places and faces we see routinely or scriptures we have heard and thought we knew, past experiences that unknowingly color our decision making now, things we watch or listen to and likewise allow our children to do may not always be so obvious as a step away from God’s best.
Look out
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”, 1Peter 5:8. We must constantly be on watch for the ways satan is trying to lead us or our children astray. But if we don’t know what we don’t know we are more prone to miss him. God has an answer for this. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” James 1:5. This is a promise from God. We do not have to go blindly along our motherhood journey walking unknowingly in the gray. As we seek Him and the counsel of His word regularly, we come to know it clearer for ourselves. Ask God to show you day to day those things that are not kind what they seem. Those things we have normalized and made routine that might numb us to the trick of satan. Study the word for yourself, reading it in context with commentaries for reference and background. A familiar scripture we are certain we know might not be the way we remember or the context under which we learned it might not be the proper context. Scripture is living (Heb 4:12) so the meaning and application from the same scripture may hit differently and delve deeper during various seasons of our lives. The more we are vigilant about this the more solid we become in His word. This way as we go about our day in our usual way and the question arises, did God really say, you are prepared and able to answer the way God intends avoiding the trap and defeating the devil.
Oh be careful little ears what you hear
Reading the bible and studying scripture is a lifelong process. I do not believe there is a reward in heaven for the one who read the bible the most times, but God will see the heart behind the reader. Oh be careful, little ears what you hear indeed as to not allow a whisper tell you that the little does not amount to a lot. Everything starts with a seed. As moms, our plates are full so reading one scripture a day and letting it take root in your spirit is far better than checking off a fully passage each day that only serves the need of checking it off the to do list. God is behind every word in the Bible so every word has power that we may not always fully perceive.
Sow the seed: What we don’t know can be the space where satan lies in wait to lead us astray.
Nurture the seed:
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”, 1Peter 5:8
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” James 1:5.
