NOVEMBER 13, 2015
The Big Stink
God
knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil. — Genesis 3:5
Read:
Genesis 3:6-13,22-24
In August 2013, large
crowds gathered at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to
witness the blooming of the tropical plant known as the corpse flower. Since
the flower is native to Indonesia, and may flower only once every several
years, its blooming is a spectacle. Once open, the huge spiky, beautiful, red
bloom smells like rotten meat. Because of its putrid fragrance, the flower
attracts flies and beetles that are looking for rotting meat. But there is no
nectar.
Like the corpse
flower, sin holds out promises but in the end offers no rewards. Adam and Eve
found this out the hard way. Eden was beautiful until they ruined it by doing
the one thing God urged them not to do. Tempted to doubt God’s goodness, they
ignored their Creator’s loving warning and soon lost their innocence. The
God-given beauty of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil became like a
corpse flower to them. The reward for their disobedience was alienation, pain,
emptiness, toil, and death.
Sin looks inviting and may feel good, but it
doesn’t compare with the wonder, beauty, and fragrance of trusting and obeying
God, who has made us to share His life and joy.
What temptations are you facing today? Remember that God
promises to help you fight against temptation. Ask Him to help you remember to
rely on Him.
God’s commands can overpower Satan’s suggestions.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage
records the entrance of sin into an innocent world. But it also records God’s
grace in response to sin. Rather than let Adam and Eve eat from the tree of
life and live forever in their sin, God graciously blocked the way to that tree
(vv. 22-23). J.R. Hudberg
Source: Our Daily Bread 2015