Genesis 3:8-10 – “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 

No, I am not asking if you are physically naked.   As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word in Genesis reading in the English translation of the Aramaic, God challenged my heart with several things, one of which was how disobedience affects us.

In the Garden, some interesting things transpired when Adam and Eve disobeyed by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.   They became super self-conscious.  They are husband and wife, the only two humans on the planet, and suddenly, they become conscious of their nakedness.

I believe that flowed out of their awareness of spiritual nakedness and was a futile attempt to hide their sin of disobedience.   They covered themselves.  That’s what we do when we sin; we attempt to atone for our rebellion through works, penitence, or something to mask our guilt from visibility.  That was the first reaction—using human effort to cover our actual condition.  

The second result of disobedience is fear.  They heard God, who had come frequently to fellowship with them, and upon hearing His voice, they hid from Him.

Disobedience always causes people to try to hide from God.  His presence exposes and shines a light on the conditions we are trying to ignore, deny, and hide.  We may even say we don’t hear Him, but the truth is, we don’t want to be exposed, so we try to hide.  We don’t pray or read the Word; if we meet with believers, we are detached and guarded.  There is no Body Ministry to us or through us.

Then, we shift the blame.   Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake.  The devil made me do it… No, He Did Not!    He suggested, and we took the bait, but it was a choice.  The result was guilt and shame.

The problem is disobedience. Even the most insignificant action or attitude of rebellion brings shame and fear. It involves attempts to cover ourselves and often comparing ourselves to others. Disobedience breaks fellowship with God because we choose to hide from Him, not because He abandons or rejects us. 

That broken fellowship leaves us empty and produces a feeling of being without value, unloved, unwanted, uncertain, distrusting, and rejected.  It becomes a prison that we willingly incarcerate ourselves in and live beneath the spiritual poverty line.   We believe that is our fate.

However, God said to the snake in Genesis 3:15 –“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, AND between your posterity and her posterity; her posterity shall tread your head underfoot, and you shall strike him in his heel.”

In Jesus, we are and can be forgiven. Jesus said that no sin (other than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit) could and would not be forgiven (if we repent and believe), not even blasphemy against the Son or the Father. That is incredible!

So, if we find ourselves in a measure of disobedience instead of hiding, let’s run to the Cross for restoration.   We are destined to be overcomers. That the world and the kingdom need us to be.  Your life is to be abundant.  It can be, as you live free of guilt and shame.

The question is, “Are You Naked or Exposed and trying to Hide?”  Instead, receive God’s incredible Love and Mercy and rejoice in His Peace!

Have a Great Day in Jesus; when you are exposed, don’t let your nakedness cause you to run from God!