Meditation in Genesis

During this period of time in my life I am taking a temporary break from "book" Bible studies, so that I can spend some time meditating on  specific passages of Scripture. I recently spent a week meditating and journaling on Genesis 3:7-13. I honestly think I could spend a year in just Genesis 1-3 and not be able exhaust all that can be learned about the character of God! 

The interesting think about meditating on a shorter passage of Scripture over a period of time is how things that you might normally breeze through, will now start to jump out at you and give you pause. I found that even though I recently spent several months studying the entire book of Genesis, that pulling this particular passage out and focusing in on just those verses spoke to me in a new and fresh way and opened my eyes again to wonderful things about the character of God.

When Adam & Eve sinned they immediately tried to cover themselves (religion) with fig leaves and hid. We were created by God for God to be in perfect intimacy with God as our ultimate treasure and source of life and then to be in relationship that is open and vulnerable with each other. But the deceiver came and destroyed that perfect intimacy with God. We no longer look to Him as our treasure and source of life. Our relationships with each other are no longer open and vulnerable, but are now marred with fear, walls, fighting, self protection. Like Adam & Eve covering themselves with flimsy fig leaves and hiding in the trees, we've been attempting to cover ourselves and hide ever since.

It is overwhelming to think about what comes next in this passage.  God, the Pursuer, went looking for them. He knew what had happened. It's not like He came walking in the garden completely unaware that they had sinned. He knew what they had done and He still pursued them, while they were still in their sins. Does that sound familiar at all? Romans 5:8 tells us that while were still in our sins, Christ died for us! To this day, just like in the Garden, Jesus pursues us while we are still in our sins. There is just something so profound in knowing that I have been loved at my absolute worst. But the story doesn't stop there. God didn't just pursue them and then pat them on the head and say, "It's okay, I love you anyway" nor did He send down fire down from heaven and immediately incinerate them on the spot.

Instead, God went on to expose them and their sinfulness and their flimsy attempt to cover themselves (Adam, where are you?) and He drew out a confession from each one of them (what is this you have done?).  We all love the fact that we are pursued and loved by Jesus. It is a profound truth. But God is also holy and we cannot ignore the fact the we are anything but holy. A very big part of God's love that is evidenced in this story is that He doesn't pretend that they did not sin, or brush aside their sin, or make excuses for it, or downplay it in any way. His love exposed them in their sin, just as today His love exposes our sin. But He didn't just abandon them there exposed in their sin and their shame. He provided for them...He provided animal skins (first blood sacrifice) for their temporary "covering" (3:21), but then we also see a hint of the cross as a total "covering" for sin (v. 3:15). 

I continue to be captivated by my God as He reveals Himself through the pages of Scripture and unfolds His plan to restore humanity. I love to watch Him interact with people in the stories of the Bible and realize this is the same God who is working and interacting with us today. He is in every way perfect and beautiful and all that is good and right and true. 

But at the same time, by gazing at His perfection my sinfulness is exposed and I see how very far I fall short of what I should be and what God requires of me. But then I'm driven back to the gospel message that the whole of Scriptures teaches me:  "Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring me to God" (1 Peter  3:18). Yes, I do fall short ...  I am infinitely worse that I can image and yet at the same time more deeply and completely loved by a holy God than I can grasp...all because of the blood Jesus shed for me on the cross! I am so grateful!