Faithful Since the Beginning

After the Garden of Eden couple tasted the fruit of the tree to be left alone, everything about their world changed.  Suddenly, they knew fear.  They feared the One who had been nothing but a source of blessing to them and Who had graced their lives with His presence in the cool of the evenings.  And, they knew shame.  Embarrassment.  Not wearing clothes had never been an issue.  It had always been natural for them.  But, with the fruit to be left alone in their bellies, they no longer wanted to be seen.  They did not want to be seen as they were for they knew that something had changed. 

 

Sin still works to bring fear and shame in our lives.  It causes us to be filled with a desire to avoid the ones we love.  We do not want them to see who we have allowed ourselves to become.  We do not want others to know of our sin.  We clothe ourselves not with fig leaves, but with pretend.  We wear a mantle of pretend which makes it seem that nothing has changed when, in fact, everything within us has changed.  We fear what they would think of us and we are ashamed of what we have done to bring such disharmony into our life and theirs. 

 

Even as our sin sends a ripple across the waters of our relationships, so does it also disturb the peace that we have known with our Creator God.  Sin is about taking charge of our life when He has promised to be faithful in caring for us.  Sin is about taking out an insurance policy just in case God is not able to come through.  Sin is about doing things our way instead of according to the way of God.  It affects us as it did Adam and Eve.  It takes us out of His presence.  We are exiled in a land which is far away from the land our soul knows as home.  And, like them, we need the grace of His forgiveness and mercy.  Thankfully, He is as faithful now to be merciful as He was in the very beginning.