And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3: 8-13
Adam and Eve fell into sin, and now they have a problem. How are they going to face the Lord? Will Adam miss his appointment with the Lord since he walked with Him regularly? Will Adam try to avoid the issue altogether and act like everything is okay?
Well, Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. That was not a good decision. Since Adam and the Lord had such a good relationship, he should have taken the step of telling Him the truth. The reality is that you can’t hide anything from the Lord. He knows everything.
Hiding from the truth is never a good idea. We can’t cover things up, ignore, or dismiss them and think that they will go away on their own. Just like our relationships with others require communication, honesty, and vulnerability, we need to have a similar relationship with the Lord. We need to address any breakdowns in the relationship and work on restoring it rather than ignoring it.
Praise God that the Lord came to find Adam and Eve. He is the seeker and the initiator of the relationship, and we get to respond to Him.
When the Lord confronted Adam, Adam said that he hid himself because he was naked. I wonder when Adam realized that he was naked. It was probably soon after they sinned. Sin is an open door to shame and feeling not good enough.
Isn’t it amazing that when we are tempted to sin, the enemy tempts us with all the things we get to enjoy and have if we give in to sin? However, on the other side of sin, he is waiting to make us feel ashamed and not good enough anymore. Interestingly, the Lord asked who told them about their nakedness. You see, God had seen them naked all along and did not think anything of it. It wasn’t that they were naked that made them feel ashamed but the fact that they had caught the virus of sin that made them operate with the lens of shame and guilt in how they saw themselves and others.
In the past, Adam and Eve saw everything as good, and they were secure in their relationships with God, themselves, and each other. Now, they had received the knowledge of evil that they did not have before. Their lens changed. Because their relationship with the Lord died, their security began to shift to their environment and the natural things they could see and touch. They began to depend on how they could change or improve themselves or what others could do for them.
Are there areas that you feel not good enough, ashamed, or guilty? What doors have been opened that need to be closed? Is there anything you need to talk to the Lord and face the facts about?
Image by Alberto Adán from Pixabay