Adam found an excuse: - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9

In a discussion on the above text with some young people, the question was asked: how are we to understand the word "deceitful" here? After some consideration they reached this conclusion: deceitful means that the heart finds an excuse for everything. This seems a very apt explanation.
When the first sin had been committed on earth, Adam found an excuse: He said to God, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12). He endeavoured to make God partly guilty. Since then excuses have seldom been lacking when someone has to account for any default.
Now what do you think? Should we go on blaming God for all the misery in the world, for the wars, suppression and violence that we are guilty of? If we ask why people do such things, God gives us the answer: "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 8:21). Education will not alter that. By man's "imagination" is meant that his thinking and planning are characterised by evil.
Jesus Christ said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." But He immediately gave the remedy: "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again" (John 3:6-7). We receive eternal life by the new birth through faith in Him, the Redeemer. Whoever fails to take this step will one day meet Him as the Judge of all the world. Then there will finally be no excuses!
Today's reading: Proverbs ch. 4