2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Genesis 3:2-3

Of course we know that the serpent distorted the directive God gave to Adam, so was the serpent around when God gave the command? Probably but it’s not germane. Distorting is what the serpent does. What we do with that distortion is up to us. Actually, the serpent merely questioned the command.

I recall a supervisor coming up to an employee who had just handed him a report. The supervisor said, “Is that the best you can do?” The writer went back and cleaned it up, then returned it to the supervisor. After 10 minutes the supervisor returned the report again. This interaction happened another two rounds until the writer said it was the best he could do it. With that the supervisor took the report and used it in other reports. Later the writer questioned the supervisor about his technique. “Oh, if you had told me the first time it was your best, I would have gone with it, but since you yourself didn’t think it was your best, I let you clean it up a bit.”

Similarly, the serpent merely asked Eve if God had said that. She was obviously going by what Adam had told her. Evidently she was unsure of herself so she added what she thought was reasonable. Unfortunately it gave the serpent an advantage.

If you haven’t already done so, write down simple truths about God. Write it while you are in your “light” moments. When darkness comes, and it surely will, the serpent will question your entire belief system. If you have these truths written down, then you can draw on when you need. The serpent will feed you the most subtle lies about you, about God, and your family. Reading what you wrote will help to dispel the lies.