Appalachian Disciple

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death”

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 ESV

Recently I saw a clip of an interview where an unbeliever brought up the very good question of how it was that Eve chose to sin, since she had not yet eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and couldn’t yet distinguish between the two. Or something along those lines. In true scrolling fashion, I didn’t linger long enough to even hear the full question, much less the response, nor could I ever find that clip again. It caught my attention briefly for two reasons: the “gotcha” attitude in which it was asked, and because I’ve spent some time mulling over that question myself.

I think the answer has everything to do with the verse above, which shows up twice in Proverbs.

“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” NIV

In fact, Eve herself tells God why she did it in Genesis 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” To deceive is to “deliberately cause someone to believe something that is not true, especially for personal gain” (dictionary.com), or put another way, “to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.” (Merriam-Webster) So what did the serpent make look valid to Eve?

Again, it is clearly spelled out:

· “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food…” In other words, it looked like harmless, edible fruit.

· “…and that it was a delight to the eyes..” In fact, it was attractive and appealing fruit, something that she really wanted now that her attention was drawn to it.

· “and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise…” Wouldn’t wisdom be a good thing? Isn’t being like God a worthy aspiration after all?

· “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

Much ink has been spilled on how Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, to dethrone Him, to take His place and rule their own lives, and I don’t deny that this is certainly humanity’s root problem. And who knows? Maybe Adam harbored thoughts like these back in the garden, since Scripture is silent on his motivations. But did it even have to be all that? One act of disobedience, regardless of motivation, and Satan could mar forever (he thought) God’s “very good” world, so he just needed to convince one couple to do the one thing they were commanded not to do. How to do that? You make it seem right to them.

“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” (NLT)

Here’s the thing: Disobedience is disobedience, no matter what seemed right, no matter the intention, and we would do well to dwell on this today. God gave Adam and Eve a rule. And though the deception started with Satan, and he, as God’s sworn enemy, deliberately set out to mislead a truly innocent person (one of only three that have ever lived!), and though he worked this deception for his own gain, Adam and Eve were still culpable. Why? Because they ate. There was one rule. The rule mattered. God was not bluffing. There was no bait and switch here; the warning had been clearly spelled out. Yes, deception was involved, but the choice was theirs. They disobeyed.

“Sometimes what seems right is really a road to death.” (CEV)

This verse could be written across our generation, churched and unchurched. We run after ways that seem so right to us, ways that make so much sense, that seem so reasonable. Surely God wouldn’t require…surely He doesn’t still mean…surely now that we know (fill in this blank with your latest preferred data: scientific, sociological, ideological, statistical, etc.)… In some ways, it’s far worse for us than Adam and Eve. They had one enemy masquerading as a friend. We have that same enemy (still masquerading!), plus a world system manipulated by him, the weight of the history of those manipulations over millennia of time, and our own tainted natures, so we are enemies even to ourselves! Our own hearts especially can’t be trusted because they are “deceitful above all things.” (Jer. 17:9) There it is again: deceit.

“What you think is the right road may lead to death.” (GNT)

To avoid the trainwreck Adam and Eve ushered in would have required obedience. To not do the thing that seemed fine, even desirable on closer inspection, simply because God said not to. And for us to avoid our own trainwrecks, it is still the same: obedience. I think this requires two things of us — first, we have to know, really know, what it is that God has said.

I have always been fascinated by Eve’s response to the serpent’s original question. He asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (3:1, emphasis mine) This is the same verse that describes him as “crafty,” and it is indeed a crafty question; it casts God in a severe light — to put you here amongst all these trees and not let you enjoy the fruit of any of them! Eve corrects that overreach: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,” (3:2) but then adds her own: “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (3:3, emphasis mine) That bolded part isn’t in the original instruction given to Adam in 2:17. Of course, we don’t know the details of every conversation; we’re given the barest of information, but it seems like Adam, in communicating God’s words to Eve, added a little of his own. A little extra fencing around the actual rule, perhaps intended to safeguard her. But the fact remains that it’s not what God said. So if the serpent comes along, saying, “You will not surely die,” (3:4) while touching the fruit and not dying, it certainly aids his deception. Now God looks like a liar, so it’s easier to lob his next strike: it’s not that you’ll die, it’s that He doesn’t want you to share in His power or knowledge; He’s holding out good things from you. And so his deception is accomplished via the character assassination of God.

It’s for this reason that I so strongly advocate knowing God’s word firsthand by being in it, day by day, year by year, and not just having other people tell you what He says. How easy we are to mislead when our firsthand knowledge of Scripture is poor! It makes us vulnerable; we can be one charismatic preacher, one confident writer, or one empathetic podcaster away from deception. When Satan comes to you, because he will, asking, “Did God actually say…?” it’s going to go better for those who know what He has actually said —who have consistently read the Bible with faith and humility, open to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, willing to live out what they’ve read.

Yet perhaps even more than knowing the Word is trusting the heart of the One who said it. God’s power and divine nature are evident to all through what He has made, Paul said, but it’s the special revelation of the gospel that revealed to us His very heart. The heart of One who willingly exchanged His sinlessness for our sin to make a way for us to be with Him. (2 Cor. 5:21) The heart of One who rushes to bestow a robe and a ring on every repentant sinner while heaven rejoices (see Luke 15). The heart of One described as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps. 103:8), and who poured that love out on us to make us children of God! (I Jn. 3:1, John 1:12-13) God was Love when He gave the rule in Eden. Giving the rule was consistent with his character as One who loves, not inconsistent with it. Enforcing the rule was consistent with Love, even if we don’t understand how. Trusting God should follow knowing God, and obeying God should follow trust.

“Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death.” (NRSVUE)

If Adam and Eve should have trusted the heart of the Rule-giver and obeyed the rule, so much more should we who live on the far side of a long game plan to restore fellowship between created and Creator. As John admonished: “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believersdoes not belong to God.” (I John 3:7-10 NLT, emphasis mine).

The world insists what is “right” is not knowable or measurable or definable, that “sinning” is so inevitable as to be irrelevant, and definitely not something we could ever judge in one another, probably not even in ourselves. Yet the Bible just doesn’t read that way. Believers are meant to help each other spot sin and avoid it, to see the good and do it! Yet all day long we are surrounded by ideas and viewpoints and potential actions that may seem right even though they go against God’s Word. We can’t abandon God’s instructions because we are capable of being deceived, and obedience shows trust in the God who took great care to instruct us. If the way that seems right involves disobedience, then it’s a way that leads to death. And if someone smoothly spins the standard so that it makes God out to be the stingy proprietor of arbitrary law and not a loving Father who knows better than we do, don’t walk away— run!

“There’s a way that looks harmless enough — look again, it leads straight to hell.” (MSG)

Jesus, save us from the dumb paths we’ve already pursued and the dark paths that lie before us right now, looking so much like light! Please preserve your people!