The Rebellious Heart

Genesis 3:2-6, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

When rebellion initially takes root in a person’s heart, it is often revealed much differently than many would suspect.  One would imagine it to look like someone with their fist in the face of God or like a traitor taking up arms against his country and king.  However, it is usually much more subtle and deceptive than that because it is cloaked in the garments of enlightenment, fulfillment, nobility, self-preservation, and deliverance from oppression.  Rebellion is a great deception that blinds the hearts of its victims, inoculates them to the reality of judgment, and endues them with such a spirit of discontent that they feel as if something has been withheld from them or that they have been withheld from something they deserve.  Rather than a fist in the face of God, it is like someone embracing themselves; and in the mind of the rebel, they are like the one who has broken free from their shackles and escaped the prison of tyranny.

Rebels do not usually begin their journey of resistance because they are angry at God.  They start it because they are curious, then desirous, and as desire would have it, they are tempted to believe they are entitled to something they have no right to possess or enjoy.  This belief is not based on the truth but on the rebel’s own self-determined and self-satisfying lust for gratification.

Although rebellion brings consequences, thank God, a provision has been made to cover the shame produced by it and to deliver all enslaved in it.  The Lord Jesus Christ, our sacrificial lamb, has been offered; He has risen from the dead and now offers forgiveness and true liberty to all who will repent of their rebellion and rest their faith, hope, and aspirations in Him alone.