July 15 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Genesis 3:1-15:

¹Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
⁷And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
⁸And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
⁹And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
¹⁰And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
¹¹And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
¹²And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
¹³And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
¹⁴And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Devotional

The serpent, no doubt, was a very attractive creature before God pronounced his curse upon it. It was more subtle, artful, and cunning than any beast of the field. Satan made use of this creature to lead Eve, the mother of us all, astray. He caused her to doubt the word of God. Satan still leads people astray in a sim­ilar manner. He causes them to disbelieve the true Gospel and to believe a false gospel. Paul in his second letter to the Corin­thians warns against this. He says, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

That is the great danger today. False gospels are proclaimed throughout the world. Satan is "a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." He is "that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He transforms himself into an angel of light, and his apostles transform them­selves into apostles of Christ. There is real danger of being deceived, and we have need to pray daily that God may deliver us from the evil one. But his day is coming, when he shall no longer deceive the nations, but be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.

Prayer

Our Father, we pray, hold thy protecting hand over us, that we may not be deceived when Satan disguises himself into an angel of light, nor be overcome when he comes as a roar­ing lion. Help us to resist him, steadfast in the faith. Grant that our minds may not be corrupted through the subtlety of Satan from the simplicity that is in Christ. Graciously keep us from evil, comfort our hearts, and establish us in every good word and work. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: 2 Cor. 11:3; John 8:44; Rev. 12:9; 2 Cor. 11:13, 14; Rev. 20:10.

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