Please begin with Part I to see the full picture of this series of devotional.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:7-8 (KJV)
Definitions of words from above scripture according to Strong’s Concordance:
Open: open, fountain, or well.
Knew: to become acquainted with
Naked: utterly naked and helpless
Made themselves: to do, fashion, accomplish, to work, and to produce, to perform
Aprons: girdle, belt
Their eyes opened to lack
Adam & Eve’s nakedness became apparent to them when sin entered the world, and now they had to find a solution to their shame of inferiority. Their eyes opened to lack which they were not designed to handle on their own. As a result, they went to work to accomplish and produce something that would make them feel better about themselves and silence the voice of shame and inferiority in their minds.
Sin produced performance
God created Adam & Eve to produce and be fruitful. However, making aprons had nothing to do with God’s purpose and design for them, and it had everything to do with their feeling of inadequacy. Isn’t that what we do?
When we feel inferior, we try to cover it up with doing extra work and performing more, so we can feel good about ourselves. Some hide behind their degrees, others are hiding behind their wealth, titles, fancy clothing, or unhealthy relationships just so they can quiet the inner voice that screams so loudly on the inside.
Sin marred God’s image
In addition to finding out about their inadequacy, Adam & Eve’s view of God changed. Now they were afraid of Him not out of honor but out of fear of punishment and harm. Sin marred their view of God, and it brought a great level of insecurity in their hearts. As a result they had to hide themselves.
Sin caused distrust and animosity between God and man. Man was so insecure that he didn’t believe that a powerful God could remain loving and good towards him, so it was best to run from God. Sin marred the image of God before man, so man had to flee for fear of this wrong perspective!
What are the areas that your performance has more to do with feeling less rather than being led by God?
Feelings of inadequacy can mar the image of God and others for us. Would you examine your perspective of God and others according to truth rather how you feel about yourself?
