Journey Through the Bible in a Year
Reading God's Word and learning more about His plan for my life each day!
Monday, September 9, 2002
Introduction to Journey Through the Bible
A note about online study
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your great grace and salvation! Even though humanity has defied You, denied Your existence and rejected the perfect world You created for us, and gave to us to manage in Your behalf, You have never ceased to love and forgive us. I confess to You right now that I have sinned against You through my thoughts, words and actions. I have not love You or one another as You command. Thank You for the promise of Your written word that if we confess our sins You are just and faithful to forgive them and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I claim that promise today, and ask You to empower me by Your Holy Spirit to live fully for You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
My Journey Verses for Today
Genesis 2:15-3:24
15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. 16 But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17 except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die." 18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." 19 So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam. 23 "At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken out of a man." 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. 25 Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.
1 Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?" 2 "Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. 3 "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die." 4 "You won't die!" the serpent hissed. 5 "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil." 6 The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. 7 At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves. 8 Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. 9 The LORD God called to Adam, "Where are you?" 10 He replied, "I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked." 11 "Who told you that you were naked?" the LORD God asked. "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?" 12 "Yes," Adam admitted, "but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it." 13 Then the LORD God asked the woman, "How could you do such a thing?" "The serpent tricked me," she replied. "That's why I ate it." 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. 15 From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." 16 Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master." 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return." 20 Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people everywhere. 21 And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. 22 Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!" 23 So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.
Reflecting on God's Word for My Journey
What is the greatest temptation that you face in your life each day?
A Deeper Exploration of God's Word for My Journey
What specific lies and deception does the serpent use to get Eve to mistrust God and fall into sin?
Understanding God's Will for My Journey
What is the most important insight you gained from reading today’s Scripture?
Applying What God's Word Tells Me to My Journey
What one reality do you learn about the Devil’s tricks in this reading that will equip you to be more faithful to God today?
My Personal Journey Thought for the Day—“Becoming Like God!”
Satan’s biggest lie and ultimate deception is that we can “become like God” through some external means. In today’s reading, it was the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and down through the ages it has been many other things: academic study, magic, hard work, sorcery, wealth and position, and many, more. Some of these are blatantly evil. Some are actually based in good, but they become twisted to Satan’s purposes because they become the object of our desire instead of God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not bad, after all, it was created by God! But God had forbidden Adam and Eve to eat from it. God wanted them to be like Him through a relationship with Him. God wanted to teach them all they needed to know. God wanted them to recognize Him as the source of everything good and perfect. But they chose the “short-cut”. They chose the “easy” way. The result was devastating! No longer would God come and visit with them each day. No longer would they know the joy of sharing every aspect of life with Him. Not only that, but now their lives were filled with shame, mistrust, hate and all the other realities that go along with being out of relationship with God. This is the really BAD news, but thank God that He always overcomes evil with GOOD! God had a plan for just this event—JESUS!
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