Monday, October 26, 2020

Hiding in the Garden

 

Monday, October 26, 2020

The woman was convinced.  She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.  So she took some of the fruit and ate it.  Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.  At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.  So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.  When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.  So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.  Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.  I was afraid because I was naked.”  Genesis 3:6-10

The truth poured out of Adam when God asked Adam about Adam; he answered, I was afraid.  The person who claims he or she has no fear is either a fool or a liar.

Fear is not a response to a dangerous possibility of harm; fear is a right response of loss.  Adam and Eve understood that because, in the moment of the first sin recorded in history, their eyes of personal responsibility to their Creator were opened.  Their nakedness had nothing to do with bodily shame; they were exposed from the inside-out.  They recognized their character (in all its flawed darkness) was exposed.  They had lost the one thing they treasured above all – relationship with the divine.

Like our first parents, we too fear that loss.  Paradoxically, it is the one thing God also doesn’t want for us, so much so, that He was willing to die in our place to take away our guilt, our culpability, and along with all that, take away our shame.   

Equally as contradictory is how we despise entering the shame to do battle with it and defeat it.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God,[1] but the shame of our sin is more of a problem than fear.  We are too ashamed of our sin to stand in the presence of holy God, so we wallow in it instead of bowing before the throne of Heaven.  We, the human family, are a strange lot, indeed.

For You Today

You are still breathing, so this game of your life is not over yet.  There is a remedy for your fear and hiding from God.  Allow yourself the next 60 seconds to hear how God has spoken to you long before you were born, in that unmistakably loving tone that wants to defeat the shame of your sin forever:

1.    God knows you’re worth His presence

 “Be strong and courageous, for….I will be with you.”  Deuteronomy 31:23

2.    God will defeat your enemies by strengthening you

“Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua told his men. “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord is going to do this to all of your enemies.”  Joshua 10:25

3.    God promises to be with you through the worst of your life

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.  Psalm 91:5

4.    God is bigger than any problem you seem to have

The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?  Psalm 118:6

5.    God is there, even when you don’t know He’s there

You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.  Proverbs 3:24

6.    God has already planned your victory in life

The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” Isaiah 12:2

And so, the sum of all your fears doesn’t begin to equal God’s love for you.  Isn’t it time to stop hiding in the garden with fear, and begin to walk with Him with all the victory with which He wants to cover you?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  Pixabay.com   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Genesis 3 and dealing with fear see:  The Arms of God and Choosing



[1] Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:14



 

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