{"id":10384,"date":"2015-10-12T18:28:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newjosh.tailfish6.com\/daily-devo\/doubting-the-goodness-of-god-3\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T20:00:12","slug":"doubting-the-goodness-of-god-3","status":"publish","type":"daily-devo","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/daily-devo\/doubting-the-goodness-of-god-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubting the Goodness of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bible Reading: Genesis 3:1-6<\/p>\n

No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. \u00a0 Psalm 84:11<\/em><\/p>\n

THE STORY OF the first sin ever committed is recorded in today\u2019s Bible reading. The story reports what the serpent said to Eve and what Eve said to the serpent. But have you ever wondered what the Tempter and his victim were thinking as they talked? Maybe their thoughts went something like this:<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d the serpent asked the woman. Let me see; I think I\u2019ll start by getting her confused about what God has said!<\/em> \u201cDid God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we may eat it,\u201d the woman told him. This serpent really bugs me; he acts like he knows so much.<\/em> Well, I\u2019ll show him!<\/em> \u201cIt\u2019s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.\u201d let\u2019s see; what did God say again? It seems so long ago, now that I think about it.<\/em> \u201cGod says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die.\u201d At least, it was something like that.<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, let\u2019s plant a little doubt in her mind.<\/em> \u201cYou won\u2019t die,\u201d the serpent hissed. Come to think of it, a little jealousy wouldn\u2019t hurt either.<\/em> \u201cGod knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it.\u201d Yeah, that\u2019s the ticket; make her think that God\u2019s keeping something from her!<\/em> \u201cYou will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman was convinced. Maybe God is trying to hide something from me. Maybe he gave me that command to keep me from having fun!<\/em> The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit.<\/p>\n

Now, maybe that\u2019s how it happened with Eve, and maybe it\u2019s not. But doubting the goodness of God is often the first step toward making the wrong choice.<\/p>\n

Many times people act like God gave his commands because he doesn\u2019t want them to have any fun. They think that the only way they can have fun or get what they want is by ignoring God\u2019s commands. But the Bible says, \u201cNo good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right\u201d (Psalm 84:11).<\/p>\n

You see, God is good. He wants to give us every good thing there is! The problem is, we often think that God withholds good things from us by commanding us to \u201cdo this\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t do that.\u201d But that\u2019s not true. He will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. If we truly believe that, wrong choices won\u2019t be so tempting.<\/p>\n

REFLECT: Have you ever felt like God\u2019s commands kept you from getting what you want or kept you from having fun? Do you think it would be easier for you to obey God if you really believed Psalm 84:11? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PRAY: \u201cGod, I know you are good and that you won\u2019t withhold any good thing from those who do what is right. Help me, from now on, to really believe in your goodness and to remember that I can\u2019t get good things through bad choices.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Bible Reading: Genesis 3:1-6 No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. \u00a0 Psalm 84:11 THE STORY OF the first sin ever committed is recorded in today\u2019s Bible reading. The story reports what the serpent said to Eve and what Eve said to the serpent. But have you ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","devotion_type":[14],"class_list":["post-10384","daily-devo","type-daily-devo","status-publish","hentry","devotion_type-youth"],"acf":[],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily-devo\/10384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily-devo"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/daily-devo"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"devotion_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/devotion_type?post=10384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}