… who told you, you were naked? …

Recently, a particular topic has been weighing heavy on my heart…actually, it has for some time now, and although I don’t feel I can really do the topic justice, I have to give it a try!

The topic comes straight out of Genesis in the history of Adam and Eve, the part often referred to as, “The Fall of Man.”

However, before we get started, we need to see that even from the very beginning, God has shown His mercy and grace to His people. And it is us, His people, who are constantly and consistently getting in the way of it, and calling ourselves “unworthy,” even while He is saying something different about us; even while He is calling us His children.

Genesis 3: 9-11 (NIV) :

9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Wow… so many things we can learn from these few verses.

Notice this though: The condition of man is the same throughout this passage.  The condition being: that man was naked.  In other words, the condition prior to Adam’s hiding, while he was living freely in the garden, and after he eats of the “forbidden fruit” are the same.  He was naked before he ate the fruit and he was naked after he ate the fruit (with the exception of the sparse covering the fig leaves provided him).

The ONLY difference was that Adam then “knew” that he was “naked.”  And it was at that time, the first time we see, that shame entered the world.  Adam was ashamed of his nakedness.  Why?  It was indeed the flesh that God had given him– it was the covering which God saw fit to bestow upon him.  So, why was he ashamed? (And on another note, who was he to question God’s wisdom?)

He was ashamed because sin had now entered the world and through Adam, the law had been initiated (a topic we can discuss at length another time, perhaps).  He was ashamed because he had the “knowledge of good and evil,” and in his mind, he made his nakedness, a sort of evil.  How do we know this? How do we know Adam determined his nakedness to be sinful, and thus necessary to cover it up?  Because God never said it was.  He never brought up Adam’s nudity.

In fact, God did not view nakedness as inherently evil, and even questioned Adam, saying: “Who told you that you were naked?” -Gen. 3: 11

Hang with me here, I promise I am not trying to make a case for nudist colonies, lol (but, I guess, I’m not making a case against, either, and I digress)

: )

God knew Adam was naked the whole time.  There wasn’t anything that surprised God about Adam’s condition.  It wasn’t like God walked in one day, and was like, “OMG, Adam, you are naked as a jay bird!!! … how did I miss this?? Cover that thing up, man!!“

No, God put him there like that.  It was a non-issue – Adam was  i n n o c e n t – He knew not of his “condition.”

Imagine a toddler running around in the buff , now some of us, ahem *me included,* can imagine this a little more readily than others of us, haha, but the point is, that they are completely oblivious to nudity, they are shameless, quite literally.  That’s how I believe Adam and Eve were before they ate from the tree.

God’s intent for man was not to be focused on sin, constantly wondering whether this or that is right or wrong, etc.  He wanted us to live life and have unhindered relationship with Him.  To live forever in His rest, in His garden of life.  But, He also gave us the capacity for free will.

So, there Adam was, caught with his pants down, hiding behind a tree . . .  from God.  Which just goes to show how foolish we can be when we choose to focus on our sin and adopt tunnel-vision, making the sin, problem, or obstacle bigger than God.

Let me clarify again, Adam’s sin was NOT that he was naked, but that he chose to willfully disobey the voice of God, by eating of the forbidden fruit.  He is essentially downplaying his sin, by changing the subject, and bringing up his nakedness, instead of his original fault– disobedience – and then also by blaming it on Eve in the end.

Anyway, even though God did not recognize Adam’s nakedness, until Adam brought it up, He was still merciful and graceful to man’s condition.  Because after correcting and punishing Adam and Even for the one sin they had committed (eating the fruit), it says in verse 21:

Genesis 3: 21

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

It was after He had clothed them, out of respect for them, did He then ban them from the garden of Eden.

Genesis 3: 22-23 :

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Bottom line:

So, even though God saw nothing wrong with Adam and his nakedness- God still offered to clothe him.  Even in Adam’s wrong thinking, did God show him love and mercy.  Which also answers the question – does God care about the “little things” – those things that don’t matter in the big scheme of things, but matter to us … Yes!

God cares about our cares, and everything that concerns us..even the little things.  He’s just THAT Good and He LOVES us THAT much!

Question:

Who told you, you were naked? What lie is the enemy of your soul telling you about your life and thus pulling your focus away from God and His love for you, today?

Because chances are – the God of the Universe – the One who created you to be His child & friend- is not even concerned with it- and won’t be until you make an issue of it.  It’s like the apostle Paul said:

Romans 14:14-

14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

In other words, get out of yourself, and focusing on self and the little hang-ups long enough to feel God’s love toward you, so that you can then truly and fully love people, like He does.

Lastly, let’s stop hiding, and  please remember what is said about you, concerning the love of God for you…

Romans 8: 38-39:

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Be BLESSED my friends, and As always, I would love to hear from you, so please add to the conversation below!!

And if you would like to see these verses in Spanish, please follow the link to the youversion website!