Quick, Hide!

When looking at the first sin to occur, we see a reaction by Adam and Eve that is very common. As soon as the sin happened, the Bible tells us they became aware of what they did. Once they had this knowledge, they knew God would not be happy with them. They knew that they disobeyed what He told them. They realized that the serpent lied to them and they fell for it hook line and sinker. Because of all this knowledge, as soon as God was in the vicinity they went and hid.

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

Now, with our vantage point of things, not being in the situation at hand, we can sit back and chuckle at how silly this was. Who can hide from God?! You really think you can avoid the one that knows all and sees all? Not only that, but He can even read your very thoughts! “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:13) So why bother? What good will it do? Well the short answer is, nothing. There is no good in hiding from God. But before we scoff at our first parents, let us realize that we ourselves fall into the same trap. Let us not forget that they were the best of humanity ever, and yet this was their natural human reaction. We too make this same mistake. We too can at times want to hide from God when things are not going too well in our walk.

We all know that we can’t hide from God. We also are not in the same situation as Adam and Eve who were physically interacting with God. So we obviously can not physically try and hide like they did. So what do I mean? Well, there are many other ways to hide from Him. Maybe a better word to use is avoid. Think about it: you just realized the mistake you made. You know what you did was wrong and against what God wants. You have that guilt weighing on your heart. Shame is hovering over you like a fog. You are so embarrassed that you don’t feel the urge to run to God for forgiveness. No, you avoid Him. You feel so bad. You love Him so much and you let Him down. You should have known better! And then the enemy is there whispering thoughts of “Why did you do that? You call yourself a christian? Would a christian do that? What would people in church think? What would the pastor think of you now ?! And then there is God!! You think He’s gonna tolerate this behavior? Is He not righteous? Pure? Holy? Wasn’t what you did the exact opposite of that? Does He not hate sin?” And then if it is  a sin you battle with a lot of our crafty enemy will toss in there, “How many times is that now? Didn’t you just go through this recently? Didn’t you promise it was the last time when you went to God for forgiveness? Now, not only did you commit your sin but you compounded it by sinning again lying to Him!! You think He is gonna have patience for this? Do you think He wants liars in His kingdom? People that will turn on Him after they swore allegiance? Would you tolerate you? Would you forgive you? Man He is not gonna be happy with you!”

Think I’m wrong? Then how many times have we hidden our sins from others? How many times have we avoided the wrongs we did? Just as kids cover things up from their parents, we don’t necessarily graduate from that when we become adults. Then the thoughts start mounting. The imagination starts wondering. The shame and guilt are even more intense now. How could you possibly face Him? How could you possibly go to Him when you let Him down? And so we hide or avoid. How? There are many ways. Some may stop praying. Others may not pick up their Bible for a little bit. Then there are those that may miss church out of embarrassment. Then some will just try to not address it. Act like it didn’t happen or excuse the action. Your heart will help you justify to yourself i.e. make excuses on why it was ok. Or why it is not as bad as we may think. So we hide and avoid.

But we shouldn't! While it is natural for all of us to feel shame and embarrassment when we sin, we have nothing to fear when going to God. He invites us to come to Him! 
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:16)

One of the reasons I want to highlight this is because of how foolish we tend to be. While it may be human (dare I see natural) to avoid God because you feel so bad for letting Him down, that is the worst thing to do! Going to God is exactly what your heart needs! For it is with Him that we will find forgiveness and cleansing once again! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) We can easily associate God’s reaction to how a person might react that we let down. But do not make that mistake! His grace is endless. He will always forgive! His love is steadfast! His mercies never end, in fact they are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22-23) So when you sin, do not believe your emotions, but run to God! As Samuel Rutherford said, “His love has neither brim nor bottom.”