I dreamed a dream. It was about a serpent. In my dream, A man came into my home and pretended to be welcomed. As he sat around my table, ate my food, and enjoyed my company, he subtly opened a nap snack that he had brought with him. From the nap snack ever so quietly slid a small inconspicuous serpent.
The serpent slipped in a circle around the group that sat entranced by this man and his entertainment. As the man spoke his captivating words, the serpent wound himself around the group such that he eventually encircled all. Then this seemingly small and inconspicuous serpent rose and doubled in both strength and in size. He body seemed to grow with the courage that he had triumphed over those that sat unaware of his deceit.
Soon he began to squeeze the life out of all that were in the group. Soon he began to have them beg for mercy.
I was not part of the group. But I sat and watched in horror as those who allowed themselves to be carried away by words of enchantment, words of beguiling, and words of entertainment were no longer aware of their own circumstances to the point that they were unable to defend themselves.
After the serpent beguiled and subtly led these away, I threw them from my home. I began to prepare food. As I prepared my stew I noticed I had but a few potatoes to feed those who stayed. Before I fed them I asked them, "Are you a believer in Christ?"
They assured me they were and so I began to feed them. Each time I dipped my ladle into the pot of stew, I discovered it would not go empty. Each time I believed I was at the last of my food, more filled the pot.
A servant of God walked behind me and said.
"He who serves the Lord will never hunger. And, God's love feeds you with an eternal food." I realized that this dream marked the division between those who live by faith to be fed and those that live by reason. We are often deceived by reason. Eve was. But faith will always fill our hearts with eternal joy. When our souls are filled with Heaven's joy, our stomachs can never know hunger.
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Genesis 3: 1-4
My dream made me wonder. Why did the serpent ask Eve about "eating" (food) and about the trees of the garden? He didn't know something. He needed information from her so he slyly crafted his question so as to get Eve to answer in such a way as to lead him to the tree that he needed her to eat of. Why? Was he playing on her sense of reason?
I believe it was to ensure that he would be able to do his will. Remember Satan was the one who was cast out of Heaven for his rebellion. In heaven he was forbidden to participate in the plan. But on earth he was not forbidden, not if he could get Eve to understand the relationship between eating of the fruit of the garden and eating of the "fruit of knowledge of good and evil."
This is the first account of Satan working through a non human source to tempt a human in an attempt to keep them from returning to God. Satan knew Eve. He knew she was the mother of all living. He knew she was "creation", but she did not command creation, Adam did. He understood that Eve was created from Adam, but Adam was created from the earth. He understood that her physical body allowed for her to know reason. So this is the angle he chose when he wanted to win her over.
Reason then, (it could be said) is to put man's purpose before all else.
Faith is then to put God's purpose before all else.
Eve needed to create. He understood this and he spoke to her need to create when he asked about the knowledge of good and evil. Before she partook she was naive, she could not understand that her decision would separate her from God by allowing her to choose evil or good. But she did understand that in creating, she actually did as God had commanded. She must have understood the joy that the animals conveyed as they suckled their own. She must have been lonely for humanity.
Why did the serpent tell Eve she would not die? Did Eve understand death? What had she seen die? How long had she been in the Garden? Were the animals of the garden allowed to procreate? Yes. (Genesis 1-2) Was she able to watch this creation?
What kind of death did Satan refer to when he said, "Ye shall not surely die?" What kind of death did God refer to when he instructed Adam and Eve not to partake of the tree? Why would the purposes of each (God and Satan) be important when considering how and what they said and asked of Eve? Why is it important to understand the purposes of any who would seek to "ask something of us?"
Perspective... God loves us and wants us to live forever. He wants us to enjoy his love. But he realized that in order to feel of his love we first had to experience a love so divine that we too would learn how to forgive, how to sacrifice and how to serve others with charity. He knew that Satan did not understand this love. So he waited and soon Satan's greed and selfishness caused him to put the plan into action.
Adam and Eve had to be disciplined because they broke a commandment (not to eat of the tree). But in doing so they allowed our first parents to become... "our first earthly parents." And in doing so we learn to value the glory of God and the love that he has for us.
The pain of our mistakes and that our first earthly parents felt that day can be erased when we allow God to wipe our tears. The pain that comes from regret lasts forever unless we counter it with forgiveness and forgetness.
Thinking about My dream ... serpents are real. They exist all around us. The basic concept of Eve's story is often lost in the "first sin" of sex. I believe the deeper meaning is that we are all too gullible and that if we are not careful we allow the many different serpents in our lives to encircle us with their subtle and crafty ways until they squeeze the love of God out of our lives.
If we can only learn to eat of the fruit of the garden...then like the garden of Eden that provides the fruit of God's eternal love, we will never hunger.
