The Truth that Emerges from the Struggle between the serpent And God is the Intransigence of His Love For Us

God expanded the scope of his love to include newly-minted humanity. He took us under his wing (Psalm 91:4).

But what did the angels think of God's largesse?

Lucifer and the gaggle of angels who followed Lucifer thought that humanity diluted God's love. Love was a zero-sum game (zero-sum).  They held the opinion that God's love was finite. The more love that God bestowed upon us, the less love was available to them. Jealous of God's love for us, Lucifer and the gaggle of angels who followed Lucifer are trying to extinguish it.  The serpent uses us as his proxy. We are his pawns. The serpent desires to show God that we are defective and, hence, unworthy of God's love. So he tempts us to sin. Surely, the serpent reasons, sinners do not fall within the scope of God's love.  God couldn't possibly love sinners, could he?

God, however, refuses to let the serpent poke a hole in his heart and drain it of his love for us. Inextinguishable is the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most sacred heart.  His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8).  The dial that controls God's love for us is in God's hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Our sin is powerless to move it. God loves us even though the serpent is right and we are, in fact, sinners (Romans 5:8). 

Why does God not end the serpent's efforts once and forever?

God does not squash the serpent's efforts and end the struggle because the struggle serves God's purpose. The struggle is apocalyptic. In the struggle, the nature of God is revealed to us. Truth emerges from the struggle that God wants us to know. The truth that emerges from the struggle is the light that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

God's power made paradise for us. God's love for us, however, makes paradise sweet. Knowing that God loves us makes a difference - it makes all of the difference in the world. "What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God."  (St. Faustina - Notebook VI, 1756). Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint? His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. Illusion is not. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their house. His love for us is the lifeline that God throws to us who are tossed overboard in the stormy sea after our ship is sunk. We have a lifeline onto which we can grab hold (Matthew 14:30-31). This is the good news of great joy.

P.S. The same struggle in microcosm takes place within us. The serpent attempts to poke a hole in our hearts and empty them of love.  The less we love, the lesser is our resemblance to God. Victory is in resisting. Victory is in clinging to love, holding tight and refusing to let go. The more we love, the greater is our resemblance to God. We are successful when we maintain our resemblance to God. We fail when we do not try to love - when we bury our love in the earth instead of investing it in our neighbors (Matthew 25:14-30).  God wants us to invest love into our neighbors because love begets love.