When Your Focus is Wrong

By Venessa Holtzhausen

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more astute than all the animals of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman,
Has God indeed said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was desirable to the eyes, and a tree of covetousness to understand, she took of its fruit and ate and gave also unto her husband with her; and he ate.

In verse one the serpent is described as crafty/astute. Onkelos in his Targum on Genesis 3 translates ‘crafty’ as either shrewd or naked. In Judaism, the serpent of Genesis 3 symbolizes the embodiment of evil. The deceit of the serpent is revealed in verse 4, where a midrash has the serpent saying, “just as you did not die from touching it, so you will not die from eating it”.

Some scholars say that the serpent actually touched the tree and said that see, I did not die. He could do that since, it was a lie that God said: ’you should not touch it’ and the serpent knew it very well.

The fact of the matter is, that Eve’s focus was shifted from being just Eve as she was created and doing what God had commanded them, to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. While they kept their focus in tack, they had the innocence of a child.

As soon as Eve’s focus was changed from whatever she was doing to ‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was desirable to the eyes, and a tree of covetousness to understand’ , she and her husband lost their innocence and a life in a
higher spiritual presence of God. Her focus shift from being just “Eve” to “be like God”.

And before we judge poor Eve so harshly, Peter did the same. His focus changed from Jesus Christ to the wind and water and he sank.

The problems of losing your focus are:

• You can be mislead
• You miss out on blessings
• You waste time
• Sometimes it cost you dearly
• It can even cost you the presence of YHWH.

We should keep our eyes focus on Jesus Christ our Redeemer and the Scriptures. And when He speaks, listen and shut out all other voices.

Mat 13:15 for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

Eph 1:18 illuminating the eyes of your understanding, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints

Heb 12:2 with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who having been offered joy, endured the cross [Gr. stauros — stake], despising the shame and was seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amen!