OUR DAILY BREAD : THE BIG STINK

[cimi]

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13


THE BIG STINK

READ:
Genesis 3:5
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God knows that
when you eat from
it your eyes will
be opened, and
you will be like
God, knowing
good and evil.
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In August 2013, large crowds gathered at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to witness the blooming of the tropical plant known as the corpse flower. Since the flower is native to Indonesia, and may flower only once every several years, its blooming is a spectacle. Once open, the huge spiky, beautiful, red bloom smells like rotten meat. Because of its putrid fragrance, the flower attracts flies and beetles that are looking for rotting meat. But there is no nectar.

Like the corpse flower, sin holds out promises but in the end offers no rewards. Adam and Eve found this out the hard way. Eden was beautiful until they ruined it by doing the one thing God urged them not to do. Tempted to doubt God's goodness, they ignored their Creator's loving warning and soon lost their innocence. The God-given beauty of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil became like a corpse flower to them. The reward for their disobedience was alienation, pain, emptiness, toil, and death.

Sin looks inviting and may feel good, but it doesn't compare with the wonder, beauty, and fragrance of trusting and obeying God, who has made us to share His life and joy. ___Marvin Williams

** What temptations are you facing today?
Remember that God promises to help you fight against temptation.
Ask Him to help you remember to rely on Him.
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God's commands can overpower Satan's suggestions.

************************Today's Bible Reading __ Genesis 3:6-13,22-24***********************
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was
good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable
for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also
gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he
ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they
realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD
God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and
they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the LORD called to the man, "Where are you?"

10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked; so I hid."

11 and he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you
eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me__she
gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you
have done?"

The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." ...

22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like
one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to
reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat,
and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the
garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been
taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side
of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing
back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Today's passage records the entrance of sin
into an innocent world. But it also records God's grace in response
to sin. Rather than let Adam and eve eat from the tree of life and
live forever in their sin, God graciously blocked the way to that tree
(vv. 22-24). _____J.R. Hudberg