Like Eve, we want to feel smart, but nothing is more ignorant than choosing man's intelligence over God's.
Well, what's funny about this is that lately I have been on this huge kick about, well honestly, stupid people. My ignorant mind simply can't handle stupid people. And even just writing this, I see the fault and the sin in my way of thinking.
(Wow, these devotions are making me feel awful about myself...but that's why I think this is so great. NOW I see. NOW I can start making those changes.)
So, I read this the first time through and was like, "Duh, yes. We all want to feel smart. Good job Eve...you messed it up for all of us, but at least you were trying to feel smart. Free will. Go for it." And so what, right? I thrive on being educated, and learning new stuff, and being like a sponge just soaking it all in...and then I realized that is not at all what this passage is saying.
Lightbulb!
I don't think it's talking about worldly knowledge in the sense of simply just "knowing stuff." It's talking about knowing what is right in the eyes and heart of God and listening to THAT. Doing THAT what is right. Being educated on God and His ways and what we should be doing to live a life like Him. It's simply listening to your inner voice; your spirit - THE spirit that lives inside us all. The Holy Spirit lives within us; if only we looked deep inside ourselves more often and listened to it.
I always thought Eve was such an amazing character in the Bible. I have such a mixed image of her; I think she is beautiful, young. Graceful and innocent. All the "good". And then a part of me gets annoyed with her. She was so naive. Like come on Eve! Why didn't you just trust God? Why didn't you just believe? Why didn't you just listen to your voice? Really? You couldn't have just said,"No," to taking the apple?!
And there it is again. THAT's the main message. We are all like Eve in that sense - we make mistakes. We are faced every single day with hard choices and easy ones. And yet we still mess up. But just think if each time we were faced with a choice - a decision - we stopped for just a little bit longer and took a second to listen to our spirit, the voice inside.
Imagine the difference our world would be if Eve had just stopped and listened to the spirit within.
We, now, have the power to learn from her mistakes.
We can't just listen to "the man" - whatever or whomever that may be. To some it may be sports radio, to some it may be a politician, a celebrity. We can't choose to have false idols who we worship - that is man's intelligence.
We must listen to man upstairs. We should trust in Him more. We should listen to Him more. We should ask more of Him - He wants to help us. He wants us to turn to Him in times of praise and in need. God is all-knowing, so why wouldn't we turn to him; our spirit within ourselves - when looking for answers?
You know...lately in my life and all the drama that's been surrounding me, I got one piece of advice from a few different people. In fact, one of them said to me, "Steph, I cannot offer any advice except for this: As long as you are listening to your heart, and you know what your heart is telling you, then just listen to it. Go with what your heart is saying." And honestly, that was the best piece of advice. I'm listening to my heart. From here on out...God's intelligence. Duh. He knows best.
Imagine the difference our world would be if Eve had just stopped and listened to the spirit within.
Imagine the difference our world would be if Eve had just stopped and listened to the spirit within.
Imagine the difference our world would be if Eve had just stopped and listened to the spirit within.
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