Driving back to
Sherman County yesterday I saw a sign warning of “possible” black ice
conditions. When it comes to the weather, hiking a perilous, or swimming in a
swelling river we commonly refer to the conditions as treacherous. This means
that they are dangerous, unsafe, precarious, and laden with hidden or deceptive
risk. It also means that because of their dangerous nature they are unreliable
and frequently unstable.
But treacherous
also is used to refer to people. The Bible speaks frequently of the dangers of
hanging out with treacherous people who act treacherously. In this sense the
word is used to describe betrayal or deception because the person is unfaithful,
deceitful, false, double-crossing, two-faced, untrustworthy, unreliable, and undependable.
After two chapters
in the Bible of “good” and “very good” (Genesis 1-2) we read in the first verse
of chapter 3, Satan (or the serpent) is described as “more crafty than
any beast...” The serpent then proceeded to tempt Eve to eat what God had forbidden, which she and Adam did do. In Genesis 3:13
God asked her, “What is this you have done?” Eve’s response was “The
serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
From this point on the story of God in the Bible
includes His unveiling to us His plan to bring us back from the hands of that
deceiver through His Son who is described as the Way, the Truth and the Life
(John 14:6). This story unfolds until the point that we are brought to the
cross on which Jesus is crucified where He declares “It is finished” (John
19:30). Sin and death had been defeated and in the last verses of the third to
last chapter of the Bible we see it all wrapped up, leaving us once again with
two chapters of God’s eternal very good for all who believed in His Son
(Revelation 21-22).
Posted in Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters on January 9, 2019
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