If an email landed in your inbox with the subject line:
DON’T OPEN THIS.
. . . would you?
Be honest. Wouldn’t part of you want to click? Or think about those social media images that say “Don’t look in the top left corner . . .” what do you immediately do? Or imagine someone says, “Whatever you do, don’t press that button.”
Suddenly, the button becomes irresistible.
Psychologists have a name for this: psychological reactance. When we feel our freedom to choose is being restricted, we often experience an inner push to reclaim it, even if the choice isn’t in our best interests. Tell someone they can’t do something, and that ‘something’ is all of a sudden oh-so-very-appealing.
It’s why warning labels sometimes increase curiosity. Why children touch freshly painted fences. Why adults peek at spoilers after promising themselves they won’t. It’s human nature.
And Eden had exactly this kind of restriction built in. God had filled the garden with abundance. Every tree but one was theirs to enjoy. One boundary, in the middle of overwhelming provision.
You’d think Satan’s job was easy. Just point at the one forbidden tree and let reactance do the rest. But he didn’t stop there. He didn’t just dangle the restricted fruit, he undermined the reason for the restriction in the first place.
“Did God really say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1)
The first temptation wasn’t to eat differently. It was to think differently. The forbidden tree wasn’t even the real target. The target was Eve’s confidence in God’s character: was he really good? Was he really holding back out of love, or out of something else?
God had spoken life.
Provision.
Purpose.
Freedom.
Relationship.
But all it took was one question to make Eve stop looking at God’s abundance and start wondering whether he was holding something back. And isn’t that still the enemy’s strategy?
He doesn’t need to remove God’s blessings, he simply needs to redirect our attention.
From what God has said . . . to the one thing He hasn’t.
From His faithfulness . . . to our fears.
From His generosity . . . to our perceived lack.
Because I think we all know by now that what captures your attention will eventually shape your affection.
Praise Jesus that he shows us another way.
Where Adam and Eve questioned God’s Word, Jesus answered temptation with it. In the wilderness, every lie was met with, “It is written . . .” Jesus didn’t allow the enemy to redefine reality but rather he returned, again and again, to what his Father had already said. He came back to truth.
And that’s the invitation for us too. We don’t need to pretend that temptation isn’t real. We certainly aren’t required to grit our teeth and determine to try harder, be better, or perform perfectly. No. We return our attention to God’s voice. Again. And again.
Because faith isn’t built by giving temptation less attention, it’s built by giving God’s Word more.
When's the last time your attention drifted from what God has said to what He hasn't and what helped you find your way back to His voice?
Let’s pray:
Father, You have never withheld from us. Not love, not provision, or truth. But we know what it is to let our attention drift. We find ourselves fixating on the one thing that feels missing instead of the abundance that surrounds us. Please turn our eyes back to You. Not because we've mastered our thoughts, but because Your Word is still true, still spoken, and always enough. Teach us to answer every doubt the way Jesus did . . . with what You have already said. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So next time the doubt whispers, "did He really say . . .?" you already know the answer. He did. And he meant it. It’s time we believe His voice, again.
Cheering you on,
Em 💛
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I was having a struggle with someone close to me, and thinking all kinds of negative thoughts, like--they did this, why can't I do that, too?
Then a scripture caught my eye across the page from where I was reading. Jesus said, "'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire compassion and not sacrifice," for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. '" (Matthew 9:12-13)
I was caught up short in my thinking, because I had been thinking I was the righteous one. Then I realized that I was sinning as well. I had not had compassion on the other person, and I needed to realize that they needed compassion. God has forgiven me in Christ Jesus, so I needed to have forgiveness for the other person as well.
"Why do some people get the miracle they pray for and others don't?" is the question that distracts me from focussing on the goodness of God in my life. It popped into my mind on the way to work this morning and I read this post shortly after.
Thanks for the reminder and beautiful prayer!