Hide and Seek

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“Hide & Seek”

Genesis 3:8-21

The Good News is that God’s love will not allow Him to leave us in hiding. He seeks us so He might remove our guilt and shame and restore us to relationship to Him.


A. Images of God's Kindness at Work to Restore Us to Union With Himself:

1. Walking:
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. - Genesis 3:8a

Walking is the primary image used in the Bible to describe God’s relationship with man. It’s an image of fellowship and friendship:

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Genesis 5:4

Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. Genesis 6:9

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8


2. Hiding:
So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. - Genesis 3:8b

3. Seeking:
Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” - Genesis 3:9-11

His knowledge of His nakedness revealed that He had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. His experience of this knowledge made him realize for the first time the difference between right and wrong. And so he hid, knowing that God would soon discover that he had willfully disobeyed God’s command. His fear made him hide.


Fear: They experienced guilt by disobeying God’s command and so they withdraw from His presence out of fear of punishment.

Naked: Shame is the sense of unease with yourself at the heart of your being. Not being able to be comfortable with yourself as you are, and therefore not being comfortable in the presence of another; that is shame.

B. The Good News:
God’s kindness removes our fear


C. The kind of damage sin does to relationships:

1. Blaming The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” - Genesis 3:12-13
2. Cursing
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” - Genesis 3:14-15


Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” - Genesis 3:16

And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” - Genesis 3:17-19

D. God's Kindness at work:

1. Clothing
Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. - Genesis 3:20-21


E. The Good News:
God makes it possible for you to come out of hiding
and live a free and authentic life with Him.



IS “IT” IN YOU?
The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community, for good of others and the world.

1. Are you rejoicing with God?
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

2. Are you enjoying His presence?
For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life giving light. Psalm 56:13

3. Are you experiencing freedom from fear and shame?
So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:36
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

4. If you are not experiencing freedom:
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

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