Shiny Apple...

The other day I was out to lunch with two very dear friends and we started talking about role models. The comment gets made that Eve is pretty pathetic as far as role models go. Seriously... shiny apple? Maybe for a shiny diamond ... but a fruit? Granted it was "pleasing to the eye (Gen. 3:6)", but lets take some time to weigh the pros and cons here.

The underlying problem (admittedly there are a few) was that Eve could not say no… 

She started something that all of her female decedents (or maybe it’s just me) have inherited. The inability to say no.

This is all great when it comes to questions like “Can you bring snacks for study?” or “Can you help me set up early for my party”.  Those kind of questions have positive consequences.

But not all questions do.

Which brings me to revelation number two. The deceiver is not dumb (insert duh Danielle's here).

(For the record, my topic this week in girls small group was Eve, hence all the ‘ah-ha’ moments concerning the fall)

Even those not steeped in the morals of the church, those guided by the moral compass of the secular world, still tell us that murder and drugs and beating animals (I hate those tv commercials!) ‘are bad’ and loyalty and truth and Harry Potter (Sorry had to throw that in there, it all ends so soon!) ‘are good’.

But the bottom line is that the Adversaries power lies not in convincing us to ‘do bad’, but instead his power lies in convincing us that what’s bad is actually good. This is why we say Eve was deceived. 

So, then how do we discern what is good and what just appears to be good? How do we separate what we desire from what our Father desires for us?

I think Solomon had the right idea. 


Ever sense I was little I have been in awe of Solomon’s wisdom … the fact that my favorite story as a child in my picture bible was the one where Solomon tells the guards to split a baby in half should have been the first clue…

But in re-reading his story, (in my big kids bible with no pictures) one realizes that Solomon knew exactly how to find discernment:

“That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, "What can I give you? Ask." ⁶ Solomon said, "You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.  ^7-8 "And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I'm too young for this, a mere child! I don't know the ropes, hardly know the 'ins' and 'outs' of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you've chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.  ⁹ "Here's what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?"

If Eve had a God-listening heart, maybe she wouldn’t have touched the fruit. (Deep down she must of know it was wrong… right?)

So then, how much more do we falter because our hearts are not God-listening? How much more do we stumble because we fail to discern the difference between good and evil?

How many times have we said yes; when the answer was no?

The other night I realized that I have come to the point in college where I have to decide what to do next. I was blessed to have been shown at the beginning of school what God wants me to do with my life, my newest question has been where. Something this important, I'm determined not to take my own path, but to search for His.


All I can do, all any of us can do, is ask for a God- listening heart, so that we end up on the path our Sovereign Lord has laid down for us. After all, why should we reach for shiny apples when we have been given Eden?