Who told you that you were naked?
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Genesis 3:11 The context: Feeling guilty about disobeying God, Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves by covering their skin with big leaves. God saw the leaves and asked them why they needed to be covered. Something had changed that made them feel like they needed to be clothed.
God Asks Us: “Who told you that you were naked?
JNE: The nakedness of Adam and Eve was not simply the absence of clothes, it was an innocence, a freedom, an unembarrassed, guiltless life before God and each other. When they disobeyed God by eating the fruit something in their relationship with God and with each other changed. They felt a need to cover up, to hide. They felt a new embarrassment, fear and guilt. No one needed to tell them they were naked, their own shame spoke it clearly.
Today we may call it a guilty conscience. Most everyone knows and acknowledges the guilt of sin we all share before God. But in our present culture that likes to deny any accountability to God, the question God might ask is: “Who told you that you are not naked?” Who told you that you are not guilty before God? What blind arrogance leads us to deny our guilt and refuse to admit our many attempts to cover ourselves so that God and others cannot see the real self that shamefully hides beneath the self-made coverings we wear. Our honest conscience tells us that yes, we are guilty before a perfect God. So, God Asks Us: Do you know you are you guilty before God?
Genesis 3:11 The context: Feeling guilty about disobeying God, Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves by covering their skin with big leaves. God saw the leaves and asked them why they needed to be covered. Something had changed that made them feel like they needed to be clothed.
God Asks Us: “Who told you that you were naked?
JNE: The nakedness of Adam and Eve was not simply the absence of clothes, it was an innocence, a freedom, an unembarrassed, guiltless life before God and each other. When they disobeyed God by eating the fruit something in their relationship with God and with each other changed. They felt a need to cover up, to hide. They felt a new embarrassment, fear and guilt. No one needed to tell them they were naked, their own shame spoke it clearly.
Today we may call it a guilty conscience. Most everyone knows and acknowledges the guilt of sin we all share before God. But in our present culture that likes to deny any accountability to God, the question God might ask is: “Who told you that you are not naked?” Who told you that you are not guilty before God? What blind arrogance leads us to deny our guilt and refuse to admit our many attempts to cover ourselves so that God and others cannot see the real self that shamefully hides beneath the self-made coverings we wear. Our honest conscience tells us that yes, we are guilty before a perfect God. So, God Asks Us: Do you know you are you guilty before God?