Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Yesterday in church I had a thought that inspired this pre-Thanksgiving week theme. Gratitude is a response to what we recognize or realize is good. Accordingly, let’s seek God’s wisdom on recognition and/or realization.

Today’s scripture, Genesis 2:25 (NLT) says…
[25] Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

But Genesis 3:7-10 (NLT) reveals…
[7] At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. [8] When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. [9] Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” [10] He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

Consider…
There’s an old proverb that says ignorance is bliss. Oxford Languages says it means if you are unaware of a worrying fact or situation you can’t be troubled by it.

The two passages chosen today illustrate that proverb. First we read husband and wife were naked and unashamed. That’s because all they realized was the goodness of God putting them together as one at first.

Everything seemed natural, because like like the rest of creation, they recognized they were both made by God and everything He made was very good.

Genesis 1:31a (NLT) testifies…
[31] Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

You see, Adam and Eve only recognized God made them good at first, when they didn’t know different. That’s because of anything made in God’s image has to be good.

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) testifies…
[27] So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Think of new born babies, they don’t know anything about who they are or why they exist. They simply exist.

The Holy Spirit showed me that humans aren’t born with an image problem, they are exposed to a ‘self-image’ problem as they grow and realize they have choices.

Notice the trick that the serpent used in Genesis 3:4-5 (NLT)…
[4] “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. [5] “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

Although it’s not explicitly stated, the serpent distorted Eve’s image focus from God’s created to her choice. Self identity remains a primary trick of the devil today.

Here’s what’s wild, all the serpent did was convince Eve to ‘test’ God by dangling a twisted truth of what she already was. Do you see it? The serpent tantalized Eve to test God’s promise of death from disobedience and tied it to the possibility of being like Him, despite the fact that we just read in Genesis 1:27 that she was already made in the image of God.

The difference is Eve’s initial relationship was solely based on what God said and did, but when she was enticed with the possibility of more, well it became malformed by what she contemplated and convinced herself to believe.

This is the same trick the devil tried to use with Jesus in Matthew 4:5-7 (NLT)…
[5] Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, [6] and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’” [7] Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’”

The Holy Spirit is telling us to recognize that the devil uses the same temptation over and over. And that temptation is to test what God has said about you with how you see yourself.

In the first two temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, the devil repeated “If you are the Son of God…”, make Him prove it. That sounds an awful lot like, “You won’t die!…you’ll just know”

Here’s the difference, Jesus responded with what God said when He recognized he was being tempted. However, Eve sinned because she gave into her curiosity of who she could be rather than operating the certainty of who God said she was.

God said Eve was Adam’s wife, but the serpent convinced her there was more to life.

The Holy Spirit just showed me that when we fell to be content with what God has said or done, we consent to testing the veracity of His word. In other words, rather than exercising faith, which pleases God, we demonstrate doubt which leads to internal fear, guilt and shame.

While reviewing Eve’s image crisis, in contrast with Jesus’ Godly conviction, the Holy Spirit also showed me that knowing and believing exactly what God said is vital to contentment. Here’s specifically what I was shown.

Eve introduced her own doubt by adding her own words to what God said. Remember she said in Genesis 3:2-3 (NLT)…
[2] “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. [3] “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

God didn’t say anything about touching the tree. In fact His exact words in Genesis 2:16-17 (NLT) were…
[16] But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— [17] except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

You see, when we make God’s decrees bigger than He said, we create more tempting taboos that will woo us. I believe there are things God says don’t eat, that we add don’t touch too and create an unhealthy obsession of why not.

I believe sometimes the LORD wants us to end our response to temptation with “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.” That’s because when we’re so busy trying to convincingly quote God’s word, we often misquote or misinterpret what He’s said, while knowing exactly what He meant. God said what He meant, don’t eat from that tree! A lot of our disobedience comes from us convincingly contemplating what God said, rather than committedly obeying what we know He meant.

Recognize, God says what He means and means what says, concisely and without ambiguity, so stop the word play with His word.

In contrast to Eve, Jesus remembered that in Matthew 3:17 (NLT), which directly preceded Him being led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted, He heard…
[17] And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

You see Jesus knew who, and whose, He was because He recognized and embraced what God said about Him. Thus, Jesus’ responses to the devil were scriptures concentrated on obedience, versus contemplative convincing.

Look and learn from Jesus’ three responses…

Matthew 4:4 (NLT)…But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

• I must Live according to God’s word!

Matthew 4:7 (NLT)…Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

• I must not test God!

Matthew 4:10 (NLT)…
[10] “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’ ”

• I must worship and serve the LORD my God only!

In contrast, Genesis 3:6 (NLT) says…
[6] The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

Eve was convinced, Jesus was committed.

Recognize, God wants our committed children, not convinced contemplators.

A “contemplator” is a person who spends a significant amount of time thinking deeply and reflecting on something, whether it’s a concept, an event, or their own thoughts and feelings.

So today, be a child of God, doing what He said because He said it. Stop contemplating and trying to convince yourself. Recognize you’re God’s child and be committed like Jesus that…

• I must Live according to God’s word!
• I must not test God!
• I must worship and serve the LORD my God only!

Because as 1 Peter 1:14-16 (NLT) tells me…
[14] So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. [15] But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. [16] For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Recognize you are God’s child, like Jesus, and respond by living obedient accordingly.

The Holy Spirit is telling you to stop contemplating who the world says you are and live obediently to who God made you.

Today’s song is…
God Made Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)