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"Wiser Than Eve"We get the impression in Genesis 3 that the serpent’s conversation with Eve was an unexpected, random, one-time-only event. We don’t know that for sure. I find it hard to believe that the serpent showed up an in a matter of 30 seconds managed to convince Eve to throw aside her regard for a loving, gracious, enjoyable God and defy him. May I suggest that there were most likely multiple conversations, over a period of days or weeks or even months, where Satan gently, cleverly, wore her down until she was finally ready to do the unthinkable. You don’t wake up some morning deciding to do something totally against your deepest convictions. Such a thing happens only after a slow process of erosion.“Vice is a monster of so frightful mienAs to be hated needs but to be seen;Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”This has happened to every one of us. We can all think of things we vowed we would never-ever-in-a-million-years do, and yet here we are doing them today without a second thought. What happens? Gradualism. Toying with the thought eventually leads to rationalization, then acceptance, then action. Eve should not have listened to the serpent a second time. She should have fled from him the next time he came around. She should have mentioned it to God during one of their walks in the cool of the day and asked for help. Satan is after you every bit as hard as he was after Eve. His voice comes to you through movies, television shows, internet blogs, songs, books, magazines, texts, conversations with random people. But since you know what happened to Eve, you can take steps to avoid falling into the same trap--because, as Eve will tell you, the consequences of sin are far worse than you ever imagined.