Food For Thought: Eve and The Serpent

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " Genesis 3:1-3

Usually, as I read my devotionals or my Bible, I look deep, and then I share whatever introspection I find here on the blog. Every once in a while thought, some neat thought just comes into my mind, and I think that would be fun to share, and fun to think on. I had read, once before a speculation that when God created the world, he created the animal much more different than the animal kingdom we know today- that perhaps it was more like the talking animal world found in the books of Narnia. Who hasn't looked at a pet and wondered what it is they are thinking- what they would say if they could?

I was reading Genesis yesterday, and when I came to these verses above, I read them over about ten times, because it made me smile- in fact- it almost made me squeal with delight like a child. Imagine this scenario, if you will. You're walking through a lush garden, admiring the beautiful flowers and foliage, smelling the plants and the fruit, reaching out and touching the occasional leaf, and then, a snake starts to talk to you. Wouldn't you be a wee bit startled? I mean, a snake was talking to Eve! I have to say that if any animal found its voice and started talking, I'd be a bit freaked out about it. Yet the Bible simply says that the serpent spoke to Eve and that Eve spoke right back. There was no surprise, no startlement, which leads me to this thought for the morning... Was that normal? Was it normal for an animal to speak to Eve? We sure get the sense that it was normal from reading the passage!

To me, that is such a fun thought, that animals perhaps were more than just beasts upon the earth for a time. It makes me wonder about other things that God may have or may not have created. And what IS it going to be like in Heaven? Will animals be there? Will they have a chance to serve God as well? Someday we'll find out.