The Lie That God Is Holding Out on You
Day 1 — The Lie That God Is Holding Out on You
Read
Read Psalm 23:1–6, Genesis 3:1–7, and James 1:14–16 slowly.
Psalm 23:1–3 (HCSB)
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name's sake.
Genesis 3:1–7
*Read the account of the serpent's conversation with Eve. Pay particular attention to how the serpent questions God's command, contradicts His warning, and suggests that God is withholding something desirable from Adam and Eve. Notice the progression in verse 6: Eve saw that the fruit was desirable, took it, and ate it. Adam, who was with her, also ate.
James 1:14–16 (HCSB)
But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. Don't be deceived.
Reflect
As we begin this new series, Baited, Trapped & Tamed, we're going to spend the next few weeks examining deception and what we can do to defend ourselves against it.
Deception is all around us. We encounter it through social media, news outlets, podcasts, entertainment, and the people we interact with every day. Sometimes deception comes through outright lies. Other times it involves exaggeration, withholding important information, or presenting something in a way that causes us to believe something that isn't true.
But I believe one of the most dangerous forms of deception isn't necessarily what happens around us.
It's the deception that happens within us.
We often think about deception as something someone else does to us. And Scripture certainly warns us about the deceptive work of Satan, our enemy and adversary.
But Scripture also warns us about our ability to deceive ourselves.
Throughout this series, we're using the biblical picture of God as our Shepherd and His children as sheep. Sheep are vulnerable, easily distracted, and dependent upon a shepherd to guide, protect, and provide for them.
And in Psalm 23, David begins with a simple but incredibly important declaration:
"The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack."
David recognized that God was his provider. His protector. His guide. His source of rest, renewal, and security.
And when we genuinely believe that God is our Good Shepherd, we can trust that He knows what we need and will faithfully care for us.
But what happens when we begin questioning that?
What happens when we start believing that God hasn't provided everything we need? That He's holding something back from us? That His commands are keeping us from something better?
This is where deception began in the garden.
In Genesis 3, the serpent approaches Eve and begins questioning what God had said. He twists God's command, contradicts His warning, and suggests that eating the forbidden fruit would give Adam and Eve something God was withholding.
The implication was that God wasn't being completely good to them. He wasn't providing everything they needed. He was keeping them from something desirable.
And rather than trusting God's Word and His provision, Adam and Eve chose to act on their own desires.
Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve saw the fruit was good for food, delightful to look at, and desirable for obtaining wisdom. She took it and ate it, and Adam ate as well.
The serpent had introduced the deception, but Adam and Eve were responsible for their disobedience.
They allowed what they desired to become more important than what God had commanded.
And we continue doing the same thing today.
James 1 explains that each person is tempted when they are drawn away and enticed by their own evil desires. Those desires, when embraced and acted upon, give birth to sin. And sin, when fully grown, leads to death.
James ends that warning with two important words:
"Don't be deceived."
I think this is something we need to take seriously because it's easy to blame Satan, our circumstances, or the people around us for the sinful choices we make.
But we also need to recognize the role our own desires play in leading us away from God.
Satan is a deceiver, but he isn't omnipresent, omniscient, or omnipotent. Only God possesses those attributes. We don't need to assume that Satan is personally responsible for every temptation or sinful decision we experience.
Sometimes the person doing the deceiving is the one looking back at us in the mirror.
We deceive ourselves when we begin believing our own version of truth over God's truth. When we rationalize our desires instead of trusting what God desires for us. When we pursue our own will while ignoring what God has already revealed in His Word.
And often, the root of that deception is our desire to be the god of our own lives.
We want to determine what's best for us. We want to decide which desires should be fulfilled, which commands we should obey, and which boundaries we're willing to accept.
We want God's provision, but we want to determine what we need.
We want His protection, but we don't always want His restrictions.
We want Him to lead us, but sometimes only if He's going where we already want to go.
And when our desires begin to surpass our faith in God's Word and provision, we become vulnerable to self-deception.
Self-deception shows up when our desires surpass our faith in God's Word and provision.
That's the danger we need to recognize.
Because the bait isn't always something obviously evil. Sometimes it's something pleasurable, attractive, or desirable that we convince ourselves we must have, even if obtaining it means disobeying God.
And just like Adam and Eve, we can begin believing that what we desire is better than what our Good Shepherd has provided.
But Psalm 23 reminds us of a better truth.
The Lord is our Shepherd.
And in Him, there is nothing we lack.
That doesn't mean God promises to give us everything we want or satisfy every desire we experience. It means we can trust His goodness, His wisdom, and His provision, even when our desires are pulling us in another direction.
The question isn't simply whether we believe God is good.
It's whether we trust His goodness enough to obey Him when what we desire conflicts with what He has said.
Respond
Think about the desires that most often influence your decisions. Are there areas of your life where you've begun convincing yourself that something you want is actually something you need?
Have you ever justified a decision you knew was contrary to Scripture because you believed it would bring you happiness, fulfillment, comfort, or satisfaction?
Consider the ways you respond when God's Word challenges something you desire. Do you willingly submit to His instruction, or do you begin looking for reasons why your situation should be an exception?
And when you make sinful choices, are you willing to acknowledge your own responsibility, or do you tend to blame your circumstances, other people, or the enemy?
Today's challenge: Spend time examining an area of your life where your desires may be competing with God's Word. Identify the truth Scripture teaches about that desire and consider whether you've been trusting God's provision or attempting to satisfy yourself apart from Him.
Ask God to expose any self-deception you've been unwilling or unable to recognize.
Pray
Lord, thank You for being my Good Shepherd. Thank You for Your faithful love, protection, provision, and guidance. Forgive me for the times I've questioned Your goodness and allowed my desires to become more important than Your Word. Help me recognize the ways I deceive myself, rationalize sinful choices, or convince myself that something I want is something I cannot live without. Give me the humility to acknowledge my own responsibility and the wisdom to recognize when my desires are leading me away from You. Strengthen my faith in Your promises and remind me that Your commands are given for my good. Teach me to trust You even when obedience requires denying something I desire. Help me rest in the truth that You are my Shepherd, and in You I have everything I truly need. Amen.