Genesis chapters 1-3 are my favorite chapters in the bible. So much happens in so little, so many questions answered, so much beauty, so much pain, loss, redemption, and hope.

It is the chapters that got me through my darkest days and the ones that keep me going in my brightest. More than anything, I love the beginning of the bible because it shows me God and it shows me God’s love for humanity. 

We are no different than Adam and Eve in the garden. I know reading it from our perspective it sounds silly to eat an apple from the one tree that you were warned against and to be deceived by a snake.

It seems odd to attempt to hide your vulnerabilities from the one that designed you and can actually help you, but we do. 

Love is oftentimes conditional with people so it can be difficult to grasp the concept of a God that loves unconditionally and is love. Out of fear of God stripping away His love from us, we hide.

We hide behind the mask of perfection; We hide behind meaningless works; We hide from God by pulling away.

But the truth is we can’t hide from God, we can only convince ourselves that we have. Ultimately, we are just hiding from ourselves because true love is light and light sees through any darkness. 

So in 2022 lets all come out of hiding. God truly desires you. The imperfections and vulnerabilities that you are trying to hide, the all-knowing God is already aware.

Those imperfections have not caused God to want to take His love away, regret choosing you, or changed his desire to use you. But it is preventing God from showing you who you really are and preventing you from seeing and knowing who God truly is. 

The life that God has for you requires you to be vulnerable with Him and come out of hiding. 

come out of hiding

Things to Remember about God from the Fall:

Adam and Eve sinned against God. Instead of going to the one that could help them, they hid from Him. In their attempt to hide, they created superficial coverings made by leaves.

When we hide behind masks, try to work our way out of our mistakes, pull away from God – we are essentially covering ourselves with sewn together fig leaves. Although it may look good, it is not God. 

Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Later in the chapter God calls for Adam and Eve. They finally are forced to admit they had sinned and were hiding from God. Immediately after, God punished the serpent that tempted them and simultaneously offered Adam and Eve hope.

Although there were consequences for their actions, God had a plan to use them to bring forth the ultimate hope, Jesus Christ. God was going to use the same people that sinned against Him to be a part of His redemptive plan. 

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,and you will strike his heel.

The consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin was ultimately death, just as God had warned. But God still found them worthy and clothed them, God was still gracious, God still had a plan for them, God still redeemed, God was still good, and God still loved them. Their fall came with great consequences but God was still sovereign. 

Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

Remember that God knows who you are at your purest form, He designed you. He also knows what is good, because He is good. Those superficial cover-ups could never amount to the comfort of being covered by a good God.