Today, I pray that God will allow you to see through the enemy’s lies when he presents them to you, dressed up as truths.

Satan often uses our sense of reasoning to trap us with disguised lies. Those things that appeal to our sense of logic and reasoning, because they seemingly make sense to us, are the ones that cause us to question the Truth.

In Genesis, we see the serpent presenting reasoning to Eve, that caused her to distrust, and then disobey God. She knew God’s instruction to not eat or even touch the tree in the midst of the garden, and she knew the consequence of disobedience would be death, but when Satan informs her that she will not die, but be like gods, she believes the lie.

Each time I’ve read this, I’ve thought, how foolish Eve was: she had an amazing relationship with God. She knew God. She enjoyed moments in the Garden of Eden conversing with God. She knew how much He loved them and that He was truth itself. Yet she was so easily swayed by a dressed-up lie.

I was having a conversation with a good friend in which I expressed in distress how the cruel and disrespectful actions of a co-worker really angered me. In reality, I had all right to be angry, but I’m thankful for the response of my very wise friend who asked, “…what’s the hook?” I attempted to defend my right to be angry, but my friend just repeated the question, ‘…what’s the hook?’

From that day, almost 10 years ago, the Holy Spirit has used that simple question to point out things buried deep within me, that He desires to uncover and remove.

A couple of weeks ago, as part of a sermon intro, my pastor shook a bottle of Coca-Cola and asked what would happen if he removed the lid. The obvious answer was that people in the front rows would be sprayed with Coca-Cola. He then asked why, and the obvious answer for me and many others was, because shaking built up pressure in the bottle of carbonated beverage. He, like my wise friend, pointed out that that answer was incorrect. Coca-Cola would spray out because Coca-Cola was in the bottle. If the bottle was empty, nothing would spray out. If it were filled with orange soda, orange soda would spray out.

That was the exact lesson that I learned almost 10 years ago. If there’s no hook in me for the actions of others and the lies of the devil to get caught on, they would have no effect. The fact that my coworker’s actions disturbed me so greatly meant that there was something buried within in me, some hidden hurt or trauma that was unresolved.

God came to heal broken hearts. Unresolved issues result in broken people with broken hearts, who react and respond in ways that are not pleasing to God. When we’re broken, we are easy targets for the devil and the sin of believing his lies over the truth of God, leads to death. Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul that sinneth shall surely die.”

Sometimes the death is instantaneously visible as with Ananias and Saphira in the book of Acts, but most often we experience a gradual progression toward death.

Eve didn’t instantly drop dead, in fact, she was able to be used by the devil to cause Adam to join her in sinning.

Sin separates us from God, so that, although not instantaneously visible, death was a result of Eve’s sin.

The truth is, the devil was right in saying that they would receive sight and be like gods. Satan majors in partial truths and elegantly dressed up lies. God’s love for Adam and Eve caused Him to shield them from the effects of ‘opened eyes’. In His wisdom He knew what was best for them. Who knows, perhaps they would have eventually been allowed to eat the fruit of that tree, if they hadn’t ‘jumped the gun’ and disobeyed.

Sometimes God withholds things from us because he knows we’re not ready yet. It’s like giving a toddler a sharp knife to peel and cut an apple. We wouldn’t do that because we known the disaster that would result. To the todler, the shiny instrument may be appealing, depending on whether or not there was a ‘hook’, but because she lacks the skill to controll it, the knife will likely do more harm than good.

I love how James 1: 13-15, ‭‭MSG‬‬ makes this clear. It says, “Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.”

I’ll rephrase that for emphasis. The temptation to give in to sin comes because of the hook(s) within us. If someone waved a glass of alcohol in my face, it would be an annoyance, because I don’t like the taste of alcohol. For an alcoholic, the effect is a temptation to either immediately take a few drink, or to take one later in secret. Alcoholism is the hook within her that causes alcohol to be a temptation.

It’s the same with everything else that tempts us to disobey God, even with the knowledge that our sin will lead to death.

Today, I pray that our Abba Father will begin to reveal ‘hooks’ within us that can be used to draw us away from Him.

It’s important to remember that God’s love for us is unconditional so he doesn’t leave or give up on us. We are the ones, like Adam and Eve who run away and hide from God. During times of weakness when we are most in need of being in our Abba Fathers presence is when we often run away in shame and isolate ourselves.

Whenever you are tempted to isolate yourself, remember that Isolated animals/people are easier prey for their enemies.

Abba Father I pray for the person reading this today, that you would allow then to be patient and receive your love as you point out and remove each ‘hook’ within them. May this time if pruning not be a season of shame, but one that draws them to a more intimate relationship with you. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

If you’ve never asked Christ to be Lord of your life please pray this prayer. ‘Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sin please forgive me, cleanse me, and make me your child. I commit my life to you today, and ask you to be my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name, amen.’

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