Naked Before God
By Sarah Walker
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8 (ESV)
By Sarah Walker
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8 (ESV)
Our Creator originally designed us to be transparent and
honest. We were designed to live our lives being precisely whom God intended
for us to be. We were not designed to cover ourselves, our motivations or our
personalities…especially not from God.
But then sin entered the picture. Sin entered, and the curse before the curse came: Shame. The man and his wife hid just a portion of themselves from one another. But from God? From God they hid their very selves. When God called to them, they responded. They knew they could not hide forever. Yet their actions indicated that there was a breach in their relationship with God. The days of being naked and without shame before God appeared to be over.
How tragic to be reminded that humanity, represented by Adam and Eve, once lived naked and unashamed. But that is not the world we were born into. Life’s tragedies and burdens began to weigh us down. The shame was stacked upon us, and we bought into the lie. We believed we were created to be covered and shame-filled. We believed we had to cover who we were from those around us, from ourselves and even from God.
We hid among the bushes, shame-ridden, hiding ourselves from God. Believing the lies, we blamed others, and we blamed God. There has been enough blame for the shame to go around. But that has never solved anything. Hiding our true selves, whom we were made to be, has never brought about true freedom and neither has blame.
True intimacy has become warped and twisted. It has become so hidden we often must slosh through all the shame and false nakedness to uncover it. True intimacy requires us to live “naked and unashamed” with God, with ourselves, with our spouse or family, and with those around us.
How do we do this? We must start by practicing honesty before ourselves and before God. It takes courage and vulnerability to live fully transparent lives before God. But if we are brave enough to be honestly transparent before God, He will show us the way forward to true intimacy with others, beginning with the most important relationship: our relationship with God.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Have you hidden parts of yourself or your story from God? If so, boldly and courageously entrust every part of you to God. Open up your heart to Jesus, fully transparent and naked before Him.
But then sin entered the picture. Sin entered, and the curse before the curse came: Shame. The man and his wife hid just a portion of themselves from one another. But from God? From God they hid their very selves. When God called to them, they responded. They knew they could not hide forever. Yet their actions indicated that there was a breach in their relationship with God. The days of being naked and without shame before God appeared to be over.
How tragic to be reminded that humanity, represented by Adam and Eve, once lived naked and unashamed. But that is not the world we were born into. Life’s tragedies and burdens began to weigh us down. The shame was stacked upon us, and we bought into the lie. We believed we were created to be covered and shame-filled. We believed we had to cover who we were from those around us, from ourselves and even from God.
We hid among the bushes, shame-ridden, hiding ourselves from God. Believing the lies, we blamed others, and we blamed God. There has been enough blame for the shame to go around. But that has never solved anything. Hiding our true selves, whom we were made to be, has never brought about true freedom and neither has blame.
True intimacy has become warped and twisted. It has become so hidden we often must slosh through all the shame and false nakedness to uncover it. True intimacy requires us to live “naked and unashamed” with God, with ourselves, with our spouse or family, and with those around us.
How do we do this? We must start by practicing honesty before ourselves and before God. It takes courage and vulnerability to live fully transparent lives before God. But if we are brave enough to be honestly transparent before God, He will show us the way forward to true intimacy with others, beginning with the most important relationship: our relationship with God.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Have you hidden parts of yourself or your story from God? If so, boldly and courageously entrust every part of you to God. Open up your heart to Jesus, fully transparent and naked before Him.
Sarah
is married to Scott and is a full-time mom to their two young sons. She and
Scott are involved in a small group focused on prayer.
