Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart: http://sothrichfield.podbean.com/
Genesis 3:6-11 (NIV)
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 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?”
Is there anything in your life that you felt if other people knew about it they might look at you completely different? And not in a good way. Maybe it would expose something about you that would be ugly, humiliating, or so deeply personal that you would be ashamed. In the Bible, “nakedness” is often used as a metaphor for having our shame and guilt exposed completely. When Adam and Eve sinned they realized that they were naked and were ashamed, so they hid. Like them, we run away and hide trying to cover the things that we find shameful. But verse 21 gives a glimmer of hope. God has seen their nakedness, but has not destroyed them. Instead, the life-blood of an animal is “sacrificed” so that Adam and Eve could be covered. God sees sin. All are naked. But in God’s mercy that guilt and shame is covered.