Vain imaginations. They’ll get you every time.
They lift themselves up above the word of God.
They seem good, just, fair and right, but they are pure deception.
Vain imaginations come from the heart of man.
Man, who tries to elevate himself above God.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Who can know it? The same One who knows all things. He will reveal our wretched hearts to us.
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:10
What if Eve and Adam had said, God knows best, let’s ask Him to be sure?
Or a myriad of ways where they would not have desired to be so knowledgeable against God’s will.
We have some responsibility here. It’s humility.
We are to cast down vain imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5
Adam and Eve did not do that. They are our first example.
They lusted after what Satan promised them.
He deceived them and told them something that touched their human hearts.
They fell wanting to be like God.
The Great Temptation and Promise:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:5
The stories many persons in the Bible who had chosen to be rich in the world but poor in the spirit.
It can be hard to trust God when you are not sure or when you don’t understand.
Humility can help. It’s a blind trust. Trusting before you know. Believing before you have seen.
From Cain to Judas. Only understanding things through their own eyes, their clouded thoughts.
We can overcome the deception by continuing to cast down our lofty thoughts
and also by seeking the Lord for truth and wisdom in His word.