There is an old saying that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can’t hurt me.”

While a seemingly innocent and apparently true statement, we all know that in actuality words have a lot of power to hurt.

Our words also have the power to deceive, as shown many times in the Bible. The first time that words were used as a weapon to deceive was in the first few chapters of Genesis.

God had instructed Adam and Eve to not eat from only one tree in the garden because it would result in death. The devil came in and deceived Eve by casting doubt on what God had said.

Using words in a way that would sow doubt, he told Eve that God was lying and that she wouldn’t surely die, but that she would actually become like God (Genesis 3:4-5).

With a lie that sounded close to the truth, and that caused Eve to doubt God’s word, the devil was able to deceive Eve and she ate the fruit. In that action, she did begin the process of knowing both good and evil, but death was still the penalty, even if not immediate.

We must know the Word of God, that we may recognize when the devil is lying to us, trying to deceive us.