(Today, I’m going to let Shame tell you where he came from. His boastful account will let you get a glimpse of his dark past. His dark heart. Since he loves to hear himself talk, I’ll be cutting him off halfway through his narrative, and let him finish up his intro tomorrow. But remember, as vile as he is, he will not get the LAST word.)
Genesis Chapter 3
Do you know me? I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard of me, but do you really know me?
Let me formally introduce myself by sharing a story. My story. Where I came from. How I got here. What my hopes and dreams are. What my plans are for you.
Yes, you heard me right. I have plans for YOU. I’ve had the same plans since the day I met you. But you didn’t even realize we’d met, did you? Let me refresh your memory…
You, as a woman, got to this planet before I did. You were created by the God of the Universe who had His own plans for you and for your future. He breathed His very air into your lungs and watched you come to life. His face was the first thing your virgin eyes saw. An adoring Father who loved you more than anything else on the planet.
But enough about that.
Not too long after you were crafted into existence, I came along. I was never part of the “perfect plan”, but I found my way into existence via my own father and, in part, to you actually. I’m not sure I’ve ever thanked you for that. From here on out I’m never going to let you forget that detail again.
Satan (aka the Father of Lies, MY father!) did the lying, and you did the buying.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself…
There you were in all of your perfect glory, beyond happy and content in this lovely garden paradise that your Father had just designed especially for you. Everything radiated unsurpassed, unspoiled beauty,
You and your partner enjoyed an incredible relationship with your creator rich with free-flowing conversation, laughter, accessibility and uninterrupted unity. Your world was free of conflict, misunderstanding or pain. You were part of a universe untouched by evil.
An unlikely breeding ground for my type.
But my father, the Great Deceiver, had plans of his own. I would get my time
From the moment you were created, Satan’s goal was to sabotage two relationships:
– Your relationship with God
– Your relationship with each other
He vowed to rob you of what you’d been given so that you would join his dark world of separation and isolation.
His raging jealousy of God had caused him to hate God and now that you, created in God’s own image, were in the picture, he hated you, too. Although, he would never tell you so. He was too sly for that.
The great Deceiver deceives by posing in any form that allows him to slide in unnoticed to destroy. That day in the garden, the day he chose to make you his first victim, he chose to show up as a serpent. Cunning and crafty. Hissing out words like venom that would hit a sweet spot on the ears but would land hard on the soul.
He told you that God, your Creator, your Father, your Friend, didn’t really have your best interest at heart. That He was withholding His best tree in the garden from you. He began convincing you that if you were really worthy of ALL of God’s love He would have allowed you to have everything you looked at and desired. (Even though everything on earth at that time, EXCEPT the one tree, was for your enjoyment and pleasure.)
Do you remember the name of that forbidden tree? The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it was called. No wonder God didn’t want you to eat from it. He had no intention for you to taste evil.
But Satan looked you in the face with those beady little serpent eyes and told you that God was lying when He said that if you ate of its fruit you would die.
“SURELY, YOU WON’T DIE!”
You had a choice at that moment. You were made with free will, that’s how much your Father loved you. You could choose to believe the lie my father told or to believe the Creator who had never, would never, could never lie to you.
To be fair, the fruit from that tree did look delicious. Shiny. Enticing. Delicious. You began to wonder why God would hold something that beautiful back from you. How could something so delectable looking, so desirable, be a bad thing? You imagined its juicy center, its mouth-watering flavor. The word “knowledge” connected with its name enticed you with a hunger, not just for the physical fruit, but for the incentive that it would make you more like God in what you would know via experience.
You were completely content with your perfect life until the Serpent, snake that he was, twisted your Creator’s words and thereby your mind, with his deception.
Satan’s power of suggestion had convinced you that you needed more than what you’d been given. Needed it. As in, couldn’t live without it. Couldn’t live. Oh the irony…
He dangled that luscious piece of fruit, hanging low and ripe from that tree, as an invitational ploy to have you join him in his realm of darkness.
Interestingly enough, the Tree of Life and this “Tree of Death” were smack dab in the middle of the garden, side by side. One was forbidden, one was not. God gave you the freedom to choose either. Life or Death.
And choose you did.
I will be forever grateful.
I would not be here without my father’s deception and your choice.
Sigh…I’m told I have to stop talking now. My time is up, and right when I was getting to the good part – day one of my existence on this planet.
Come back tomorrow to hear about my grand entry into the world. It might just change your life…
–Shame
