40 Days to Spiritual Combat

Before there was a first sin, there was a first question. Today you meet the oldest tactic in the war — and it isn’t a lie you can see coming. It’s a question that makes you stop trusting the One who loves you.

Eve is not a saint, but she is where the war you’re fighting first drew blood. Picture the garden before anything went wrong. She has everything: God walking with her in the cool of the day, a husband, work that isn’t a curse yet, and a single boundary — one tree, off-limits, and everything else is hers. There is no scarcity. There is no threat. There is only abundance and one line not to cross. Then the serpent shows up, and notice what he does not do. He doesn’t march in with an argument that God is a tyrant. He doesn’t deny God exists. He doesn’t even tell an outright lie — not yet. He asks a question: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Read it slowly. It’s brilliant, and it’s evil.