Where are you?

After a 6 month break from blogging in which I served in Bible Study Fellowship, an International inter-denominational Bible study where we spent 9 months in the book of Genesis, I want to share nuggets from the "book of beginnings', as Genesis is called. It is "where I have been".

A phrase from Genesis 3 grabbed me this morning. It is "they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the LORD GOD walking in the garden" [Genesis 3:8 NASB].

Adam and Eve lived together in this wonderful garden God had created for them. It was their home. They had probably heard God walking there daily. He lived with them. What was different this time? Why did the "sound" matter this time?

It mattered because this time they had done the unthinkable...they had eaten from the one tree God had forbidden and they felt SHAME for the first time.

SHAME that they were naked.

                SHAME that they had disobeyed God.

So they hid from God....or they attempted to do so. I understand. I try to hide too!

Things would never be the same and they knew it! This would be an incredibly sad story BUT GOD!

GOD who loves so much who rather than SHAMING them asks a question "Where are you?" Did He ask because He did not know? He asked because He wanted Adam and Eve to come to Him, to share with Him what had happened. He gave them a chance to confess and they did! God listens, answers, disciplines and then provides a covering for them. BUT GOD!

As I ponder this verse....I ask myself....
   Do I listen for God walking in my life?
   Do I talk with Him when I feel SHAME?
   Do I let Him remind me that He has covered me too?

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

1 John 1:9

New International Version (NIV)