The Terrifying Sound of My Sin Being Discovered
Each click of my mother’s shoes thundered through my chest as the sound grew nearer and nearer.
I pushed myself further into the back of the linen closet where I’d hidden.
My sister Melissa and I had ignored the rules, taken matters into our own hands, and now our friend Kim was bleeding.
Boy, were we gonna get it when Mom and Dad found out.
So, rather than run for help and forgiveness, I hid.
Sin Makes Us Do Stupid Things
Melissa, our friend Kim, and I craved a bottle of Coke, but we’d have to walk across the freshly mopped kitchen to get it. Thus, the Coke was off-limits until the floor dried.
To our 9 and 10-year-old minds, that would take FOREVER.
I defied the command to wait, tiptoed across the wet floors, and snagged a coveted bottle.
Then we rushed upstairs to our bedroom. Without a bottle opener.
No worries. We had the hard edge of a metal table.
Melissa and I reasoned we’d only need to slam the bottle cap against the edge of the table, and the cap would pop clean off.
Kim scurried to the other side of the room. She thought this was a terrible idea.
Kim was right.
Melissa smacked the top of the glass bottle against the table.
The cap—still attached to the now shattered top of the bottle—sailed across the room and sliced Kim’s hand.
Blood flowed, Melissa ran for help, and I hid.
By God’s providence, I hid in the linen closet—the first place Mom went because it held the towels she needed to staunch Kim’s bleeding.
The tapping sound of Mom’s shoes on the tile floor gave me a sense of the dread Adam and Eve must have experienced as they heard the sound of God walking in the cool of the garden.
We Hide. God Seeks. But It’s No Game.
GENESIS SERIES RECAP: In the last video, we looked at Genesis 3:1-12. It relates the tragic events that led to the moment sin ripped into the world and into Adam and Eve’s hearts—and into ours.
Adam and Eve had become sin stupid. They’d chosen friendship with Satan over friendship with God.
They’d traded the Truth of God for the lies of Satan—lies that accused God of withholding good from them and that held the empty promise of becoming like God.
We learned important Truths about God, sin, Satan, and ourselves through these events.
(Watch the video on Genesis 3:1-12 Fall of Man.)
God Initiates
When we pick up where we left off in Genesis 3, we see that Satan was quickly found out to be a liar and Adam and Eve, helpless sinners in need of a Savior.
What would you do if you were in big trouble? Seek out the one who could save you?
We already saw what I would do. (But I’ve changed a lot since I was nine, and God is still refining me.)
What did Adam and Eve do? Were they better than me? Did they go looking for a Savior?
Nope.
They didn’t seek God. He sought them.
God came down to seek and save the lost.
Through this, He displayed an important Truth.
TRUTH: God initiates. God seeks. We do neither.
Adam and Eve Hid. God Came Down to Seek. But This Was No Game.
When Adam and Eve heard the sound of God in the garden, they didn’t run to Him and seek forgiveness.
Instead, without a good linen closet to dive into, they dove behind some trees.
Their sin stupidity caused them to hide from the only One who could save them.
God came to save them and foreshadowed the grace of His Son Jesus.
Jesus came to seek and save sinners through His death and resurrection—guilty sinners who never sought Him.
Despite Jesus’ well-documented and extravagant sacrifice of salvation, no one seeks Him.
No one seeks after God. (Romans 3:10-11)
If God didn’t draw us to Himself, we’d all be lost. Forever.
God initiates.
God seeks.
We hide.
But the LORD God . . .
“But the LORD God” are sweet words of comfort because they remind us that no matter our circumstances, there’s always hope because there’s always God.
No matter what we’ve done, God will forgive us if we turn away from our sin and, in humility, turn to Him.
Adam and Eve had become helpless sinners. But the LORD God . . .
Where Are You?
When the LORD God came down, he called to Adam. “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
NOTE: God never asks a question for information. He knows everything. He asks for the hearer’s benefit.
God’s question exposed Adam and Eve’s hearts for the purpose of drawing them into confession and repentance.
Look at where you are, Adam. Consider where you are—not only physically, but spiritually. You’re hiding from Me physically because You are far from Me spiritually.
Adam said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).
He didn’t say: I heard You so I came running.
But rather: I heard You so I hid.
Note why Adam said he hid.
He didn’t say he hid because he’d sinned against God. He said he hid because he was naked.
Adam wasn’t as concerned about his sin against God as he was his nakedness—his shame. Adam didn’t want to be fully known by God.
I’ve been deeply convicted over the years by the number of times I’m more concerned about my sin being found out than I am about my having sinned against my gracious, loving, and holy Father.
Yet, each time I’m more concerned about my sin against God than being exposed, my heart is lifted u. I’ve found God merciful and forgiving. He reminds me through His Word that Jesus has covered all my shame and restored my fellowship with Him.
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
He [the LORD God] said, “Who told you that you were naked?’ (Genesis 3:11)
Their nakedness wasn’t a big secret. It was obvious. So why the sudden surprise and need to cover themselves in leaves?
In the Old Testament, nakedness symbolizes humiliation and shame—exactly the feelings that accompany sin. The horrible feeling of being exposed and known more than we want.
God wasn’t asking a question but rather pointing out that no one told them they were naked.
Their sin heaped humiliation and shame upon them and the knowledge of evil came by experience.
They didn’t need to be told they were naked. Their eye were now open.
The Blame-Shifting Begins
God said, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? ” (Genesis 3:11)
Adam didn’t confess. He blame-shifted.
“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12)
I imagine Adam basically saying to God, “What else could I do under the circumstances that YOU unfairly put me into? YOU gave me this temptress, and SHE gave me the fruit. What else could I do but eat it?”
God didn’t respond. He turned to Eve.
“What is this that you have done?” (Genesis 3:13)
Like Adam, Eve didn’t confess or beg forgiveness. She blame shifted her sin onto the serpent.
“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13)
It’s all HIS fault, not mine.
Neither of them are wrong. They reported the events as they happened. The facts were right. The attitude was not.
They didn’t crawl on their bellies before God with repentant hearts.
But the LORD God . . . (Ah, the phrase. This grace-filled phrase!)
God didn’t ask Satan a thing. But He told him something that curled Satan’s tail and change the course of history in the direction God had always planned.
You’ll have to wait to see what God said when I post the next video. Or, you could always read Genesis 3:14-20 yourself.
Transformation Statement
If we BELIEVE and ACT on what God has revealed through this passage, how will our hearts be changed and our lives be different tomorrow?
(NOTE: It seems that each time I pray a transformation statement prayer or write out my transformation thoughts on my worksheet, I remember other Truths or notice something I’d missed before.
Thus, the following transformation thoughts are a little different than the transformation statement prayer in the video.
Whenever you study this passage, you may notice things I missed. Or I noticed things you missed. You see how this goes.)
If I truly believe and act on the Truth at all times, I’ll never choose to sin again. Jesus broke the power of sin in Christian’s lives on the cross. HOWEVER, He hasn’t taken our sin nature away yet, so without question, my sin nature will win the day at times.
When it does, if I believe what God reveals through this passage, I will run to Him for forgiveness.
I’ll confess my sin, turn away from it, and surrender to God. And I’ll delight in His grace and mercy because I know they’ll be mine.
I’ll treat my fellow man with kindness rather than blame shift onto others.
I’ll remember that everything that touches my life is allowed by God—even evil—for His good purposes and His glory. Therefore, I won’t complain. I’ll accept it and make wise decisions in how to respond without sin.
I’ll remember that no one seeks after God, therefore, I won’t be shocked by the evil I see around me or be surprised that loved ones aren’t seeking after the Lord.
Instead, I’ll pray. Fervently. And then I’ll rest in the One who is able to reach every heart.
I will remember that I can’t save anyone. Only Jesus can.
The LORD is the one who seeks and saves those whose names will be found in the Book of Life.
He will not fail. He never has, and He never will.
I’ll remember that sin destroys and, thus, I will flee from it.
I won’t trade the Truth of God for the lie of Satan.
I’ll seek to know and cling to the Truth of God’s Word.
My daily priority will be to let Scripture shape and form my heart and mind so that I obey God in everything He calls me to do, and so that I’m a blessing to my fellow man.
And I will worship and praise God because He sought me even while I was His enemy, and He saved me.
He made me His child and secured my salvation by His Holy Spirit forever.
AMEN!
What about you?
What did you notice in this passage that will change your heart and your life tomorrow IF you believe and act on it.
Share in the comments!
PS—The Rest of the Story From the Linen Closet
I can still see the look Mom gave me when she opened the linen closet door and discovered me cowering in its darkness.
It was a mix of surprise, shame, anger, and urgency.
I still shudder when I think of that moment. And yet, I didn’t get the expected and well-deserved spanking of a lifetime.
Perhaps I owe Kim an apology AND a thank you.
Thank you, Kim, for distracting Mom with your bleeding hand. And I’m truly sorry Melissa’s and my great idea was so stupid.
Next time I see you, I’ll buy you a Coke.
And I’ll let you open it.
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