Behind the simplicity was a cunning undertone. Behind this simple exchange which set off a cosmos-rocking event, the fork-tongued liar was leveling charges against the character and nature of God. What came off like a question was really an accusation. Behind these few sentences, we can isolate at least three lies about who God is, and they are lies that we are, in fact, still believing today.

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made” (Genesis 3:1).

Everything was good. Very good, in fact. All creation existed in perfect harmony, and at the center of everything was the crown jewel of creation. The man and the woman lived in perfect fellowship with God, walking without guilt, shame, or any other hindrance with Him. And into this harmony slithered the cunning serpent armed with what must have seemed like a very innocent question and just a few short sentences that followed it:

“Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-4).

Behind the simplicity was a cunning undertone. Behind this simple exchange which set off a cosmos-rocking event, the fork-tongued liar was leveling charges against the character and nature of God. What came off like a question was really an accusation. Behind these few sentences, we can isolate at least three lies about who God is, and they are lies that we are, in fact, still believing today:

Lie #1: God is not generous.

“God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…” said the serpent. This is an accusation about the generosity of God. The serpent sparked doubt in the heart of the humans that caused them to wonder if maybe, just maybe, God was holding back something from them. And if He was, then maybe He was holding back the very best. Never mind that there were hundreds, or even thousands, of other trees to eat from; nevermind that only one was forbidden; and never mind that the one was forbidden not because God isn’t generous and loving but instead precisely because He is.

We still believe this lie. We believe it when each and every time we believe God is holding out on us – that there is some additional blessing He is keeping to Himself. When we fail to recognize that, in the gospel, we have all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Our constant craving for more and more and more betrays the fact that we, like our ancestors, are in the habit of calling the generosity of God into question.

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