“For my words are wise, and my thoughts are filled with insight.” Psalm 49:3 (NLT)
The Garden of Eden holds a critical lesson about the frailty of man. How easily we can be fooled by clever words that play on our earthly desires. We can be so caught up in receiving those “special wants” that we don’t ask about the lingering after effects.
Extremely gifted people are placed in marketing departments for every major company. If they can get people to touch their product, whatever it may be, and convince them that their product will dramatically change lives, then they’ve done their job and a product is sold.
How many cars have been purchased for the “sex appeal” marketing and later repossessed because of high car payments, high insurance costs and expensive repairs? How many expensive jewelry purchases have put difficult financial burdens on young families because marketing says that a diamond ring or necklace is the only way to prove your love to your spouse? How many young lives have fallen ruin because of movies and commercials showing that “Cool” people drink, smoke, party and are sexually active?
Satan tempted a “perfect” life in a “perfect” world and turned the entire future of man upside down. Adam and Eve did not understand temptation; they did not understand evil; they did not understand that life could be anything different than it was. They did understand that there was a rule and it was a very explicit and critical rule: They were not to eat from the tree.
In Adam’s and Eve’s minds the gain must have appeared to far out-number the potential loss; how bad could the consequence possibly be in a “perfect” world? We all know that the consequence was the exposure of imperfection, pain, fear, loss of relationship and death. I wonder whether they would have been as willing to disobey if they truly had understood the consequence.
Many times I have wished that I could have kept my children completely protected from the evils of this world. I raised them in a Christian school for many years, until it closed. The harsh reality of life struck each of them in a different way when they started secular schooling and met their first bully. They were shocked by the negative interactions of student to student and teacher to student. Had I set them at a disadvantage by protecting their environment? Would they have had better “worldly” coping skills if they had been exposed to non-Christian behavior in their formative years? I can only guess and wonder and pray wisdom over my now grown children; each one walking a difficult journey in their lives right now.
Resisting those temptations, bullies and everyday challenges takes wisdom. Wisdom sets us in right-standing with the Word of God and gives us the direction and skills to fight. How do we receive wisdom, where does it lie? It is in Jesus Himself (1 Corinthians 1:30); it is from God, given as a gift (Exodus 31:3); it is shouted in the streets and the public squares by those who have walked the journeys and chosen to encourage and warn others (Proverbs 1:20). Wisdom is within each of us, if we ask for it; if we will humble ourselves and recognize our frailties; if we will desire not to fall into temptation (James 1:5).
God, please give me the wisdom to teach and guide Your children back to You. Help me to help them to understand that temptation comes at the hands of skilled marketers, including Satan himself. Help me to teach them to call out to You for wisdom – for the small things and for the mountains that stand in their path. Please Lord, help me to remain humble as I ask again for the wisdom I need to continue this journey.
By Linda J. Humes
Written 8-29-2011
Linda J. Humes 
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