Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

Day Eighteen: Rebellion

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say..." (Genesis 3:1a NIV)

T he serpent’s intrusion into the garden is a clear act of rebellion against the nature of God. His initial question appears innocent unless you understand his intent. His question was a guided missile targeted at God's position of authority in the minds of Adam and Eve. If he could get them to question God and judge His intentions towards them, then the seeds of rebellion would form a chasm in their relationship. He succeeded. And our world plummeted into the depth of divisiveness. When humanity took over the steering wheel for the world, we brought to God's creations things like, murder, divorce, war, genocide and an endless list of other horrors. We corrupted power. Nobody can be trusted with it because power usurped will always corrupt. The questioning of authority has become a badge of honor in America. We pride ourselves in our independence and our intellectual arrogance. There is a tragic story as God was forming the Hebrews into a nation. He was forming a new kind of nation where its leaders were servants and not lords. Korah and about 250 appointed Levites decided Moses and Aaron were abusing their power. "They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Numbers 16:3)