Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper. Proverbs 28:13
Note: This article is in a series called Two Roads. Previous articles are always available at http://www.webbweekly.com.
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.”
For the record, Adam was not naked. He was wearing fig leaves he had sown together to cover himself. Yet when he heard God approaching, he hid. Why?
Adam hid because he was naked in a way fig leaves couldn’t fix. As God came closer, Adam was both shocked and confused by the desperate emotions welling up within him. He had never experienced fear before. He had never experienced guilt before. In that moment, the fight or flight response took over – he ran and hid.
He could have openly confessed to God what he had done. That option was available to Adam just like it is always available to you and me. Adam weighed his options and chose to hide. Regardless, God came looking for him. God even called out to Adam, Where are you? Genesis 3:9
That’s what grace does. It pursues us; it pulls on us. God’s grace gives us another opportunity to make the right choice, to simply be open and honest and confess. God knew exactly where Adam was and why he was hiding. Instead of confession, Adam decided to beat around the bush, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. Genesis 3:10
To be clear, Adam wasn’t afraid because he was naked. Nakedness made him feel shame. Adam was afraid because he had broken the command of God, and he knew he was going to suffer the consequences. He could have just said that. He could have just been honest and confessed. He didn’t.
God’s grace will never settle for anything short of full and honest confession, so God gave Adam one more chance to come clean, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Genesis 3:11
Adam just couldn’t bring himself to do the right thing. This time, he decided to blame someone else for what he had done. He was still hiding, The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Genesis 3:12
And that was that. Adam ran out of chances to pick the right option. His mistake brought the full weight of the consequences of disobedience crashing down on him.
Be warned: God’s grace has its limits. It will pursue us and pull hard on us. It will give us opportunities to do the right thing, but grace will not make us do it. That choice is ours, and the time to make it is limited. That’s why God calls Today the day of salvation – we may not have tomorrow,
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:12-14
As God’s co-workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6:1-2
When I was seven years old, my mom bought a new set of dishes. The label on the box claimed the dishes were unbreakable.
The next day, my friend Alan came over to play. It was a hot day, and my mom served us ice cream in the new dishes. While we ate on the back porch, I told Alan the bowl he was holding was unbreakable. He didn’t believe it, so I decided to prove it to him. I held my empty bowl about four feet above the concrete floor and let it drop.
The dish shattered into at least twenty pieces. I was shocked, confused, and scared. We quickly picked up the pieces, and I hid them in an overgrown and forgotten corner of our yard.
For some reason, my mom decided the very next day to clean up that forgotten corner. Almost immediately, she found the shattered dish. When she showed it to me, I lied and told her I didn’t know what happened or how it got there. I was certain that confession would mean big trouble, so I hid behind a lie. That was a mistake.
My mom knew I had broken the bowl and where I had hidden it. She gave me time to confess, but I didn’t. She confronted me with the bowl to give me another opportunity to come clean. I still hid. I learned a valuable lesson that day: confession is less painful than hiding.
Breaking the bowl was a mistake easily fixed. All I had to do was share with my mom my misunderstanding of the word unbreakable. No harm, no foul. When I hid the bowl, I turned a mistake into an offense. She gave me time to come clean. She even showed me the broken bowl to give me one more chance to do the right thing. She gave me grace, and I squandered it. My friend, don’t squander God’s grace today. He is giving you today to confess, and confession is the beginning of redemption.
