Did God really say...

"Did God really say..."

Interesting question, even if it did come right from the serpent's mouth (Genesis 3:1) It's the first account of Satan pulling out one of his oldest tactics...using doubt against us. He used doubt to trap Adam and Eve in that first sin and he has been doing it ever since.

Here's the interesting thing. I believe that doubt, like so many other things in this life, is fairly neutral. It's what we do with it that matters. Adam and Eve both allowed doubt to come. Imagine how different things would have turned out had they waited just a little while for God to show up. If they had gone straight to the Source of all wisdom and said, "God, did you really say...?"

Instead, we catch the two of them going to the serpent to find their answers. Sounds strangely familiar to many of us.

You see, all of us, no matter how deep our faith roots run, have doubt at some point. Even some of the strongest tenets of our faith can come under the attack of Satan (e.g. the ELCA and its recent change in stance on gay clergy). How we handle that doubt makes all the difference in the world and, depending on the subject, may make all the difference in someone's eternity.

Rather than consulting the wisdom of this world, why not go back to the Source? Two reasons...we are impatient and lazy. Long gone are the days where saints prayed for hours, refusing to budge until God had given a clear direction. We want an easy solution on our time frame. Such attitudes are what led to the first downfall of man. Don't let it lead to your downfall as a modern day Christ follower. I pray that when the questions of "did God really say" arise in our life, we are found in the Word or on our knees asking the Creator Himself rather than allowing our culture gone wild to tell us what He really meant.