Temptation

What Makes a Good Lie

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will [a]become like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:1-6).

The Promise of Freedom and Despair of Bondage

When the Israelites started thinking they might be freed from bondage, Pharaoh wanted to make things harder so the Israelites would give up on that idea. Satan does the same. He knows that it works to his advantage to make the path out of sin as difficult and dark as possible, so that it seems like the best thing to do is just to stay in sin, rather than to gain freedom. It's a terrible irony that the hardship of bondage can cause people to stop listening to the very message that can free them. So what do we do when we find ourselves or someone we know in this place where they have become numb to the promises of God?