48: The Devil Made Me Do It

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12-13)¹

Did you notice that the man blamed the woman, and the woman blamed the devil? Here we see one of the results of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: victimization. Victimization is a result of allowing the behavior of others to determine how we relate to God.

Recently someone who had experienced a great offense by someone close to her came to me for help. It was a big one, and she was angry with God for letting it happen. I told her that God was not responsible for another person’s choices, but He cared deeply for her and understood her pain. I told her that God was there for her and would see her through the situation. I shared with her many things intended to comfort her, including my own experiences with extreme pain at the hands of others, and how God had seen me through by His grace. Her response was that God’s empathy wasn’t very comforting if it didn’t change her circumstances. In the course of our discussions she said to me that this other person had destroyed her relationship and trust in God.

Is that possible? Can someone else ruin your relationship with God? How can that be? If that were possible, our relationship with the Lord would be on a pretty flimsy foundation! The truth is that nothing on the outside can change the reality on the inside. And if our relationship with the Lord and our peace relies on the behavior of others or any outside circumstances, then we are in a losing battle. We are promised that we will have trouble in this world.2 We are also promised that He who is in us — the Tree of Life — is greater than he who is in the world.3 We can feast at the banquet table of heaven in the presence of our enemies if our eyes see the spiritual reality.4

(from pages 95-96 of Unveiling Jesus)

Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.  Used by permission.
²John 16:33
³1 John 4:4
⁴Psalm 23:5