Genesis 3:8a And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

This is a hint. It is not in truth the whole story, it is but a hint. But to what?

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

There is the second hint. Once again it is not in truth the whole story. A glimpse into the visual says something which the words themselves do not say, and is a hint as to what might be going on in the mind of one angel, Satan. Can we build doctrine upon this? Please do not. A hint is a hint and is nothing more than what is inferred, a possibility that relates to human behavior.

Point one is that God came to Adam and Eve to be with them. Point two is that the angels came to God.

Human nature says Adam and Eve got special attention. Does an angel as powerful as Satan look to these humans as deserving special attention? Where in the bible can we see his attitude towards man?

Job 1:9-11 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

In human terms, that sounds resentful. Satan wants to test Job to see if he can break the bond between God and Job. Doesn’t that sound similar to what Satan, that worm, the old serpent did with Eve? Now I do not want to impose the notion that angels act like men, but here in Job we do see what appears to be resentment.

Could jealousy be at the root of Satan’s tempting of Eve?

Not doctrine, I’m just saying, I can take a hint.

Psalm 103:1-2 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Forget, yes, forget, I am better at that than remembering. I need to be reminded more often than I would like to admit. Such is the case this morning. Maybe I knew it applied to me, perhaps I thought it only applied to her, I don’t remember. So I have to look at it again with fresh eyes.

Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Nothing makes you want to be like God more than being with God. This was the temptation of Satan based on Satan’s personal experience. Satan’s original sin was wanting God’s glory for himself. The cause of Satan’s tempting Eve we can go into later. Right now I would like to speak to ambition, and personal ambition at that.

We who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are in a restored state of relationship. As sons and daughters of the Most High God we are privileged to come into His presence. At the center of that relationship is love and the building of trust. The core of any loving relationship has to be built around trust. The more we trust God the more he can do for us and the more He can trust us, the more benefits we receive. This is why I began with the opening verse.

God gives good gifts and like all gifts we want to receive them unto ourselves, make them ours. In doing so we run the risk of using them for our own ambition. Those gifts were not given to us for that purpose. They were given to enhance our relationship with God and to serve His will. Using them to serve our own selfish ambition is where things go wrong.

Great men and women of God have been very successful in remembering those gifts are meant to serve God’s will. We might see only the success and say “Hey, I can do that!”

Maybe that is what Eve said to herself just before she took and ate?