What I am Learning From Evie

My Bible study group has just started Liz Curtis Higg's Bad Girls of the Bible. We met this week to discuss the first chapter, a lesson on Eve or "Evie" as the author refers to her. What a chapter. I think that each of us had mistakenly assumed that having heard the story of The Fall hundreds of times since childhood, that we were pretty familiar with the story. And while that is probably true, I can tell you that in all my life I have never thought on Eve as much as I have in the last week. It was a fresh Word.

I do not want to turn this into a political or "dire economic situation" post. I do want to share that as I have mulled this over in my brain this week, God has actually been using this week's lesson to speak to me about our Nation's current "mess". The economy. The election time mudslinging. The fraud and lack of integrity in nearly every news story. It keeps bringing me back to God's Word and The Garden. The serpent was there with two promises: "your eyes will be opened" Gen. 3:5 and "you will be like God" Gen. 3:5.

To be like God and know it all. I shudder to think of the times even this week that I have tried to "be like God". I have allowed myself to be deceived. I have blamed others for the sin that I have committed (it's not my fault, I was the victim). There have been hundreds of times that I have allowed myself to become distracted and focused on something (or someone) other than God. This world is full of beautiful, shiny objects that clamor for my attention, my money, my thoughts. The longer that I look, the more my focus shifts. The more I want, desire, yearn. And Satan sits back and breathes a sigh of relief and chuckles.

I am drawn back to Liz Curtis Higg's words:

"The tree that had been in the middle of everything yet obediently avoided--for how long we don't know--suddenly, that tree was it. The all-consuming, gotta-have-it thing. Like a child of Christmas past who put only one item on her wish list--Cabbage Patch Doll, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Beanie Baby--Eve had a fixation about that tree.
She stopped looking to God for the truth....
She stopped looking at the good, wholesome fruit already available to her."
Liz Curtis Higgs, Bad Girls of the Bible, pg. 30.

"She stopped looking to God for the truth." Friends, we can not let the events of the world distract us. Satan is having an absolute hay day right now. We have found ourselves consumed by the "gotta have it" mentality--knowledge, control, objects or what we "can't have" because of the value of the "market". Many are paralyzed, looking to the network news for the truth rather than God. We are not enjoying all that we currently have been given, all that is currently available. We are not focused on God and his goodness. We expect fellow humans to be our "saviors".

At the end of each chapter of my Bible study book is a section of personal application--a "what can we learn from_____". Here are three of the lessons that Ms. Curtis Higg's points out that we can learn from Eve:
(Excerpts from pgs. 39 & 40)

• Don't get into a debate with Satan. "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. " James 4:7

• Know God's Word so you won't be fooled. "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11
• Let's avoid the blame game. "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-2

It is easy to get discouraged, to be fearful and hopeless. Every where you turn, the flow of information is slapping us in the face. I can easily be counted as one of those at times. Our God is still on the throne! I have been reminded multiple times this week that He is bigger than ANY mess that I have made. I have been consciously trying to focus on God and get into his Word deliberately. I have found it hard with kids to be consistent. I have been examining my thoughts and actions and confessing more--trying to avoid the "blame game". I have been trying to enjoy what I have and not be distracted by those things that I don't. It is hard but I am praying for strength to press on.