February 13, 2021

The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:9)

This doesn’t make sense, does it? First, if we are true believers, there is no need to fear God. Second, if we are afraid, we know we can turn to Him for comfort. Yet in this reading, it seems that God was the source of Adam’s fear, so much so that he felt he must hide from Him.

If we look at the root cause of the fear, we may discover that we are no different than Adam. The cause of the fear was not God, but Adam’s nakedness. It was shame that kept Adam from turning to God.

It is our own nakedness that causes us to be afraid, too. Not physical nakedness, but vulnerability. At times we are stripped of our confidence, or our direction, or our purpose, and are left naked and exposed…and afraid. We know we can turn to God for comfort, but how can we face Him? We are ashamed. We’ve let Him down again.

We need not be ashamed. We can always turn to God. He welcomes us with open arms.

There is nothing we could ever do to make God love us less…nothing.