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Eyes Wide Open

Words of Faith Final

Eyes Wide Open
Words of Faith 1-21-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 3
    Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
    [8] 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. [9] But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"
    [10] He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
    [11] And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
    [12] The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
    [13] Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
    The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

          In the south, it has been observed that there is a big difference between "naked" and "nek-ed." The first is a perfectly good word to describe unfinished wood or the "naked truth." The second describes a scandalous sort of scene as in "'nek-ed' as a jaybird." Interestingly, Genesis makes a similar distinction.
          There is a difference in the words "naked" that describes Adam and Eve before and after the Fall. The form of the word "naked" in Genesis 2:25 "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" suggests that they were at ease with one another without any fear of exploitation or potential for evil. It is a word of innocence.
         The form of the words in Genesis 3-- "they realized they were naked"-- carries shame and embarrassment. It means to be "stripped" and left with indignity. This exact word form is used to describe Israel in exile after they disobeyed the Word of the Lord. The effect of the Fall was not simply that the man and the woman came to know they were "naked" (arum). The result was instead that they came to know that they were "naked" (erom) in the sense of being "under God's judgment" and being ashamed. They were stripped of innocence.
          Adam and Eve had lost the innocence of Eden. When they sinned, a radical change occurred within their hearts and minds. A change took place in the way that they looked at each other. A change took place in their self-consciousness. They immediately knew that something was tragically wrong. Something terrible had happened. They no longer felt perfect or innocent, sinless or righteous.
         They sensed guilt and shame within their hearts and minds, and they knew beyond question that what they had done was wrong. They now knew both good and evil, for they had eaten the fruit of evil. They had turned away from God, disobeyed His Word, and rebelled against Him. Sin had stripped them naked. This is the first consequence of sin.
        So, Adam and Eve hid in the Garden. What were they thinking? There is no place to hide from God. Yet they hid. The marvelous thing here is that God came looking for them. He could have abandoned His project. He could have destroyed everything and started again in the second week of creation. But He did not. He came looking for His fallen humans.
        "Where are you?" is the first great question of the Lord God toward His fallen humans. It speaks volumes. For centuries to come, the Lord God will ask this question of His people in different ways. "Where are you?" does not mean, "What is your location?" God knows everything. He means, "Where are you, with Me?" Where are you in your relationship with Me? What is your spiritual location?  
          We see another evidence of the Fall as Adam and Eve tried to explain their actions. Blame. The sin nature still wants to be a god and claim innocence in the face of utter failure. Eve blamed the serpent. Adam blamed Eve and actually blamed God, saying, "It was this woman You made..."
          The wonderful thing we see here is the nature of the Lord God. God came seeking His fallen humans. The rest of the Bible is the story of the Lord God seeking His fallen humans and affecting a cure for their sin. We will see God come seeking His humans in many ways. He will seek us in the Law and the Prophets and in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He will come seeking. This is the nature of God.
          There is nowhere to hide from God. We can stay away from "church," but we cannot stay away from God. We can avoid prayer, but we cannot avoid Him. We can run into the very face of sin, but we cannot run from the presence of God. He pursues us. He questions us. He seeks to reconcile us because we cannot do that for ourselves. That is the love of God. That is the heart of God.
          Have you been hiding from God? Perhaps it is time to surrender and make peace with Him.

          Lord God, I can't hide from You. I can't hide anything from You. You search me and know me through and through. You know my unique gifts, and You know my failures. I surrender to You. I give thanks for Your plan of redemption in Jesus. In His Name I pray. Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.