shamed: Full Circle
‘For here is the way God so loved the world—He gave His only unique Son as a gift.’ (John 3:16a, TPT)
April 29th, 2022
FOOL-ish, i.e. lacking judgement or sense; ill-considered; unwise; preposterous; thoughtless; reckless; absurd; idiotic.
Genesis 2:25, ‘The two of them, the Man and his Wife (Adam and Eve) were naked, but they felt no shame.’ (MSG)
At the beginning of time, God did not intend for His creation to ever feel shame. The first couple chapters of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, we see almost what would be considered a Fairy Tale being scripted. In the very beginning, there is great nothingness, a vast inky, brooding and empty void, and the Spirit of God hovers over it. He breathes and light suddenly eats the darkness, and one by one, each day brings another glorious appearance. Color blossoms and a garden grows and life forms, and then, finally! God makes for Himself, fellowship, a man. And from the man, a woman is pulled. They are in awe of Him, and one another. They are completely uncovered because they are covered by their Maker; and they feel no shame. They are utterly unaware of their nakedness. But all too soon, the Fairy Tale takes a turn, and an antagonist arrives on the scene of our story. The man and woman, our protagonists, do what they’ve been told not to do, and at once, they see all their—and each other’s—humanity and blemishes, flaws and imperfections. God never intended for us to see any of what has been revealed by sin.
As soon as Adam and Eve take the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the nasty pill that opened their eyes forever, they immediately are immersed in embarrassment and disgrace. Here they were blinded by God’s goodness to them, the freedom that He clothed them in, but as they take that first bite of forbidden food, their eyes are opened, and they are unblinded to what God was protecting them from…themselves and humanity. What an oxymoron! Satan had promised them they would be like God Most High, and be able to discern good and evil and have His power, but instead they had more power and knowledge when they were blinded. The enemy stole everything God was giving, had intended, for mankind. And they run and hide from what Satan had dangled in front of them, knowledge! from what they had just chosen to see and know. The very thing he promised, they gained, but instead of victory, it brought defeat.
They hide from each other by covering themselves. They hide from themselves by turning away. They attempt to hid from God by not only sewing fig leaves to wear over their nakedness, but also, crouching behind the trees in the garden, hoping to blend in and be out of His sight. To me it is the loneliest verses in the entire Word of God: ‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked?”’ (Genesis 3:8-11a, NIV)
Do you think the Lord God really did not know where the man and his wife were? I believe He knew absolutely what they hid behind, immediately, where they were. He is an omniscient God. He knows everything. He loses not one of us; He always sees us, and all that we do. We are unable to hide from Him. But before eating from the Tree they had been commanded not to eat from, they were unaware that there was any need to even hide, to feel shame, to know of their nakedness, to feel trepidation at all. That is the day that not only sin made its appearance but so did fear.
“Who told you that you were naked?” I hear the despair in the Lord God’s words. I have heard it when He’s asked me, “Who told you that you were imperfect? Who told you that you were not enough? Who told you that you weren’t worthy? Who told you that you failed? Who told you that you were unlovely? Who told you that you were naked?” Since the moment sin and fear, shame and guilt, shouted out about our nakedness, our unworthiness, we have been in hiding, hoping and praying to the God Who formed us from dust that we would never be seen. Satan taunted us about having our eyes opened, but what it opened our eyes to is everything God wanted so desperately to protect us from. How fool-ish to never choose to hear the message of the Gospel, to never be saved by the grace He died for us to know. But, what a good, good Father, to have designed us inside of a protective bubble that unfortunately the world constantly strives to pop. It began before time and it will last until time is no more, but because of His grace toward us, we will—His children will—outlast and overcome all the shame and guilt, fear and unworthiness, because God’s only, unique Son took it all on Himself, nailed it to the cross, and was raised to life again that we might live victoriously. Forever.
1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.’ (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 1:25, 27 ‘For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength…But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.’ (NIV)
John 3:16b, ‘SOW NOW: whoever believes in Him will never perish, but experience everlasting life.’ (TPT)
