Monday, November 11, 2019

"..Where are you?.." Genesis 3:8-11


Hiding from the Lord has always been a way we cope with the effects of sin, shame, and fear from the time of the fall of man in the garden until now.  

In the beginning, there was an awareness that Adam was clothed in the grace of the Lord and that he was totally and unreservedly unashamed because trust was established between the Lord and Adam that the Lord would be his covering.  

When Adam walked with the Lord in the garden during the cool of the evening there was a free-flowing dialog between them both, the Lord was imparting to Adam all that he needed to live a life that was full and free with no needs because the Lord would provide all of Adam’s provision through the garden.

There was one who was not happy with the Lord’s decision to make man above the angels and that was Lucifer.  The book of Isaiah chapter 14 uses an analogy with the defeat of the King of Babylon to help describe the power that Lucifer had at his command, a vast army of soldiers who were loyal to him because he had originally been appointed by God to rule the armies of heaven.  

God, however, had a different strategy, and that was for man (who was created in God’s image) to rule over the earth and have dominion over all of the created order.  Lucifer was a brilliant commander and it was difficult for Him because of his pride and ambition to accept anything less than what he had been created for, he wanted to rule the earth so he rebelled.  

Lucifer’s rebellion attracted many of his loyal followers to join him in his rebellion and he and his army were relieved and deposed of their positions, and this rogue commander and was cast out of the Lord’s presence.  When it was over there were a third of all of the angels of heaven followed Lucifer and left the presence of the Lord.

“Remember the angels who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place: they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for that great Day on which they will be condemned.” 
Jude 1:6 (GNT)

It was there in the garden of Eden that the greatest strategy against the Lord’s purpose was put in place, it was there where Lucifer (now called Satan) sought to regain his position as commander by getting Man to relinquish his position of dominion of the earth and willingly hand it over to him, so he subtly caused Adam and Eve to distrust the Lord and put their confidence in reason rather than in the Word of the Lord.

It was from one act of distrust that the Lord’s grace was removed from Adam and Eve and they began to hide from the presence of the Lord, that rebellious act was to doubt the Lord’s Word which had been so clear and without compromise which was now put to the test.  

Hiding is a natural response when we are dealing with the effects of sin and rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us directly to rid ourselves of doubt, fear, and compromise.  We hide in different ways, it manifests in procrastination, escapism, avoidance, and other ways.  The Lord is always patient with us to draw us back into relationship with Him, He calls out to us like He did with Adam “where are you?”.

God did not lose Adam & Eve, they lost themselves in a Garden after they had broken trust with he Lord.   That trust was based on relationship and dialog with the Lord, once broken Adam became aware of his shame and fear which was what separated him from the grace of the Lord. 

Adam had recognized that something was missing now that he had disobeyed God, Adam answered the Lord “I heard your voice and I was afraid and I hid from you because I was naked”, nakedness was not his sin nor the reason for his hiding, it was the removal of the covering of grace that been upon him from the beginning and now it as gone and he was aware of something being different, now it was fear which filled his mind.   

God’s immediate response is “Who told you that you were naked”, God isn’t addressing Adam’s sin of disobedience, He is addressing the reason for his hiding which is Adam’s direct response to the removal of God’s covering of grace.  God knew why Adam was hiding, but Adam didn’t know why. 

God was trying to bring understanding to Adam about his identity as a created son of God, but Adam didn’t understand that He had forfeited the position God had given to him by stepping out of grace and into the reasoning of the mind.  

Satan was all too happy to achieve his goal which was to defeat Adam and circumvent the Lord’s plan by deception to gain control over the earth and the future of all mankind so that he would have a kingdom to rule again.

In a similar way when we begin to dialog with the Lord and build relationship and trust with Him, His grace is given to us to rely upon His faithfulness to keep us.

“For all of God’s promises find their “yes” of fulfillment in him.  And as his “yes” and our “amen” ascend to God, we bring him glory!  Now, it is God himself who has anointed us. And he is constantly strengthening both you and us in union with Christ.  He knows we are his since he has also stamped his seal of love over our hearts and has given us the Holy Spirit like an engagement ring is given to a bride—a down payment of the blessings to come!” 
2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (TPT)

We are constantly being tempted to step away from grace and trust in our own reasoning and logic concerning our efforts to understand the word of the Lord.  But rather than understanding or comprehending the word of the Lord it is far better to obey than to sacrifice grace to reason.

“Jesus replied, “Loving me empowers you to obey my word. And my Father will love you so deeply that we will come to you and make you our dwelling place.” John 14:23 (TPT)

This is the age old battle over the mind, to choose a position with the Lord and remain in that position of agreement with Him no matter what may come.  The Lord's only desire is that His love would permeate our lives so that we would desire Him above everything else, and that His love would live within us to accomplish what He desires to do in our lives which is to transform us and to make us like He is.  

We have become adept at compartmentalizing our hurts and pains to such a degree that hide our pain deep inside of us so that those dark corners of our life never see the light of day.

There are many hiding places in our minds we have locked away the instances where we have been hurt and damaged over the years, these are the areas where the illumination of His light to expose the darkness to that pain that healing and release may come. Those hiding places must be exposed that we can be transformed and not trapped emotionally in the past. 

There is much more to come in this journey with the Lord, and our identity as sons and daughters of the King is paramount, anything that is contrary to that goal we can ask the Lord to heal those hurts of our past so that nothing will stop us or stand in our way from moving forward.

Be Blessed;
Stephen Barnett

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