I was listening to Daily Audio Bible this morning and he was reading from Genesis. The story is far from novel for me. Eve is tempted by the serpent. She then gets Adam to eat as well. Then they suddenly have knowledge of good and evil and are ashamed and cover themselves, which is how God finds them. Nothing new in the story, but I am humbled once again by God’s reminder that his Word is alive and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, and it brings newness to a soul seeking fresh life.
The first idea I had never thought of was Adam’s lack of standing against Satan. According to the scripture, he is right there? Why doesn’t he speak up for his wife? Why doesn’t he tell Satan to get the heck out of dodge and quit leading his wife astray. If someone were to come along and try to seduce me right in front of Daniel, I certainly hope he would man up and do something, anything about it. But Adam does nothing; well, actually he does do something-he joins in. It’s as if Satan is asking Eve to come play with him and Adam says why don't we all join in? What?
And then I started thinking about how important that tree is. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Certainly Adam and Eve knew good before they ate of this tree because they were living in complete harmony with not only God’s creation, but with God himself-forever in his presence. Maybe they didn’t have knowledge that this was good since they had no concept of evil to contrast, but still, they experienced good 24/7. What would that be like? I am not certain any of us on earth can even comprehend that. Even our good is shadowed by the phantom of evil ever lurking around the corner. So maybe the lesson is we can never fully know much less appreciate good until we have encountered evil?
We as humans became our own gods. We now know good and evil and can only become right with the epitome of good, God himself, when we choose wisely. A choice necessitates options. The tree suddenly enabled options. But the option was there before which enabled the choice. Opt to obey or opt to disobey. They choose unwisely and that choice led to a knowledge they didn’t really want; none of us really want to know evil. When it sneaks into our homes, when it pries into our hearts, it wreaks unfathomable misery that only God can heal.
Only God can heal; only God can restore the great chasm that now exists. When Adam and Eve ate, they heard God walking and they hid to cover themselves. They suddenly knew shame as it filled their soul with isolation. Because isn’t that what shame does. It drives us away to a place of cover, like a game of hide and go seek gone bad because we become so lost we are never found. The masks of facade we persist in raising in the ball of our masquerade to achieve a status for all to see that doesn’t come close to revealing who we really are, much less how much we really need Jesus, or how much we need others who also need Jesus. But with our human frailty and flesh, we become monsters of our own closets, slapping a pretty picture on the door so no one suspects what lurks beyond. Why do we do THIS?????!!!! Because with our knowledge of good and evil, we know we are evil. We know we will never measure up. We know we are naked and God can see every last inch of us and we would much rather put on some leaves and pretend God doesn’t really see us for who we are. BUT HE DOES. He always does. He knows every last inch of my shameful soul and yet He Loves? What?
Some days I love my covers. I love to wrap underneath them and feel like life is okay because I played the part well and reached the end of the hour to hear the applause. But some days, oh some days, I grow very weary of the facade. I want to strip the leaves away and proclaim to the world that I too am a failure. I too fall flat on my face. I too live in the shame of my sin and can never measure up. And I too just want to let it all out on the table before Him who already knows it all anyway and say Here am I. Will you still claim me? Will you still call me Your own? Will you still pick me up into your Daddy arms and whisper in my ear that You, You-the God of the Universe, the creator of the stars and the mountains and the seas and the beauty that fills my nostrils on a warm, new spring day-You love me? Will you love my selfishness? Will You love my anger? Will you love my deep, dark need for worldly acceptance?
And I hear you say no. I will not love your selfishness. I will not love your anger. I will not love your deep, dark need for fleeting status.
But. . .
I will love you. I will love you enough to lift you out of your selfishness. I will love you enough to rise you above your anger. And I will love you enough to give you a new name, my name. And then I will take you on a wild ride through this life, a great adventure. But always remember, I AM.
I am the one who can reveal who you are. But I cannot reveal you in your mirror of self-reflection if you insist on keeping your covers on.
The covers of Adam and Eve must go. No more hiding from God’s presence in shame. For when we step out into the light, His light, HE will make a cover for us to conceal our shame. In the garden, it was made of skins. But that covering was only temporary. He knew we needed time before he gave us the ultimate covering. The blanket of dripping red.
