“What are you doing?” It wasn’t a casual question expressing interest. The tone and timber of her voice let him know that he had crossed a line, though unseen. His actions and intentions had been called into question and he reacted badly. This scene plays out in a million storylines of television drama or film, novels, plays, operas, or country ballads. It’s not original. It’s a tale as old as time.
“Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.
I was afraid because I was naked.””
Genesis 3:9-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.3.9-10.NLT
We feel it in our gut when we read these lines. Our chests tighten and our pulses race as the scene plays out before our eyes. It resonates because we’ve all lived it at one time or another. The knowledge of good and evil is our curse until God makes all things new. Like Eve, we have believed the lies of the serpent. We have questioned the goodness of God our Creator and our conscience is pricked every time we try to mask our intentions with good deeds thinking no one will notice, but God sees. He knows all that can be known and His Word and His way are intended to protect as well as to provide. Why do we, in our finiteness, think we know better?
By lies, “The woman was convinced.
She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.
So she took some of the fruit and ate it.
Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.
So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.
So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.”
Genesis 3:6-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.3.8.NLT
Stop. Look at the setting alone. When the cool evening breezes were blowing in a beautiful garden meant to supply every want or need perfectly, the tempter prevailed. Think tropical paradise. The first couple were not miserable, not by a long shot. God provided everything for life and godliness in the garden for them. He also offered them a choice. He would not force them to trust Him. He still does not. He would protect them as a parent guards the child he loves but the choice was always theirs as it is ours. It’s why so many people medicate or choose other vices to drown out or silence self consciousness because with it comes conviction. We recognize something is not right and we’re afraid it might be us so we thrash about looking for another place to lay blame.
““Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.””
Genesis 3:11-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.3.11-13.NLT
At the base of the accusation is a single action. A choice. My choice. Your choice. We act because we choose to act. Our line of reasoning is not hidden from God, only from ourselves and that too is a choice. John reminds us of Jesus’s teaching and cautions us to keep a clean slate with our Maker.
“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”
1 John 1:5-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.1.9.NLT
We’ve reduced self awareness to a process by which we initiate self care. We want wholeness without God who fills all things with Himself. (Ephesians 1:23) We curate what the world to sees of our lives and we feel very pleased with ourselves, forgetting we are fully known. All of the focus on self is our entire problem.
“Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Luke 9:23 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.9.23.NKJV
The Psalmist asks, “How would I discern the waywardness of my heart?”
And in answer, he continues, “Lord, forgive my hidden flaws whenever you find them.
Keep cleansing me, God, and keep me from my secret, selfish sins; may they never rule over me!
For only then will I be free from fault and remain innocent of rebellion.”
Psalms 19:12-13 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/psa.19.13.TPT
In all the great murder mysteries, the evidence seems to point to an innocent bystander who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A great sleuth sees what others cannot and proves the innocence of the one while nabbing the real killer. This is also not an original storyline. In the cosmic struggle of the ages, a serpent deceives the rightful heirs of an eternal kingdom into scraping and clawing to gain what was intended to be theirs all along. Their fate was sealed until their Advocate erased their guilt by taking their punishment Himself. They are declared innocent while the one who seeks only to kill, steal, and destroy is condemned.
“There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work.
Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.”
Psalms 19:11-13 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/psa.19.11-14.MSG
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Psalms 139:23-24 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.139.23-24.NLT
“For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, like a two-mouthed sword.
It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet!
It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts.
There is not one person who can hide their thoughts from God, for nothing that we do remains a secret, and nothing created is concealed, but everything is exposed and defenseless before his eyes, to whom we must render an account.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/heb.4.13.TPT
“Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind.
You are so intimately aware of me, Lord.
You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence!
You know every step I will take before my journey even begins.
You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.
You have laid your hand on me!
This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible!
Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.
I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking.
It simply amazes me to think about it!
How thoroughly you know me, Lord!
You saw who you created me to be before I became me!
Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.
Every single moment you are thinking of me!
How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!
O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore!
When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.”
Psalms 139:1-6, 14, 16-18 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/psa.139.1-18.TPT
God really does write all the best stories. Yours is no exception. Just when things look hopeless, when there seems to be no way out, He comes through. Think of the cross. Death and grave looked like they had gotten away with murder, but thank God, since the Son rose on the third day, nothing has ever been the same. This God can be trusted with your heart and your life.
“The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here.
But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!”
Psalms 103:8-18 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.103.12.NLT
““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.
But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.
All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.””
John 3:16-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.3.16-21.NLT
Stop hiding. Come to the Light. There is no shame with Him. Only grace. Your story isn’t over. The curse isn’t the end. Why settle for the best the world has to offer when there’s One who gave His life for you? Surrender your story to Him, then open His Word and find your perfect ending.
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