“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)
Covering It Up
After Adam and Eve had committed their act of disobedience by eating of the forbidden fruit, they immediately became aware that what they had done was wrong. As Satan had promised them, they did gain the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately, the first evil that they discerned was the wickedness of their own actions. Their eyes were now indeed opened, but what did they see?
They knew that they were naked. The wisdom that they had hoped to gain and the wondrous things that they had aspired to behold had now slipped away as their gaze became locked only on their own shame. Instead of the powerful, wise “gods” that they had believed they would become, they were reduced to frightened and exposed wretches. They immediately set about to try to cover up their guilt.
How many people since then have followed in their footsteps and attempted to “sew fig leaves into aprons” themselves? Rather than dealing with our sin, we so often try to cover it up. We cover it with religion, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. Instead of confessing our sins to God, we spew out pious platitudes and “spiritual” sounding nonsense. Rather than admitting our own helplessness apart from Christ, we immerse ourselves into the business of playing the part in a desperate attempt to conceal the guilt of our own conscience.
Jesus Christ has provided a “garment” that we can wear that will truly cover our transgressions. But it is a garment that He has sewn together and washed in His own precious blood. If any person will lay aside their own “fig leaf apron”, God has a robe of righteousness that’s the perfect fit. But we have to confess our sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ if we are ever going to put it on.
Hiding From God
The next thing that Adam and Eve did after they had disobeyed God was to hide from Him. They heard the voice of their Creator coming toward them and, rather than running to Him and confessing their sin, they hid themselves from His presence. Don’t we tend to do the same? The first thing that so many people do when they fall into some behavior that they know God does not approve of is that they stop praying, close their Bibles, and stay away from fellowship with other believers. They hide themselves from God’s presence. Not only is it futile to try to hide yourself from an omniscient God, it is the complete opposite direction from where we need to go.
“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” (John 6:66-68)
Sinful flesh always seeks to hide itself from a Holy God. The presence of the Holy Spirit convicts us of our own sinfulness and brings our guilt to the surface. We know in our hearts that even our fig leaf aprons cannot conceal our shame from God Almighty.
Obviously God knew the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned against Him. He would have been completely justified to show up immediately and utterly annihilate them. But He didn’t. We see Him walking toward them, not running. He came in the cool of the day, not in the heat of anger. He didn’t turn His back on them, they were the ones hiding. God was the One Who came looking for them, not the other way around. Adam and Eve had the opportunity to confess what they had done to God. Yet when God asked them about it, they merely passed the blame.
What will you do with your sin? Will you cover it up or hide yourself from God? Neither of these will work. God’s voice is calling out to you now, won’t you run to Him?
To Jesus Christ goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
[This post was originally published August 23, 2009]
**Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) © The Lockman Foundation and are used by permission.
[If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ or you are not certain where you are headed when this life ends, I invite you to read the article “Am I Going To Heaven?“]
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