It was good. Then it all went wrong.
Two trees. One choice. Two Kingdoms. One King.
A sly serpent entices them down a slippery slope. Their perfect paradise is now a ruined rubble.
They try to cover their shame, but flimsy leaves can’t solve what sin destroyed. They cower. They hide. But do you hear Him? The sound of His footsteps in the cool of the day. I wonder what His arrival sounded like. Did the ground shudder? Did the leaves quiver? Did the sea tremble? Did his footsteps drown out the sound of Adam and Eve’s frantic heartbeats?
“Where are you?” His voice beckons.
As Adam and Eve hide, clothed in their shame, God goes looking for them. And the sound of His coming is the sound of grace. For even in their exile, He’s still the God who will do whatever it takes to dwell with His people. He has a plan to bring them back. He’ll make a way to be with them once more.
It’s there in Chapter Three.
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
There’s a blood feud coming. A serpent crusher is on the way. He’ll make all that’s wrong right again. He’ll bring them back and lead them home.
He’s the God who goes looking for the shame-covered, the grief-tethered, the sin-smothered, and the fear-layered.
Adam and Eve in the fig leaves.
Moses in the desert.
Gideon in the pit.
Shepherds in their fields.
You. And me. Right here. Right now.
In the mundane of housework. In the raising of children. In the ordinary, unremarkable, routine moments of life. In the extraordinary, exhilarating joys of success. On the mountain of happiness and in the valley of the shadow of death. His coming is the sound of grace.
He’s looking for you this Christmas. Right there in your shame. Right there in your sin. Right there in your fear. Right there with hands covered in dish soap, arms loaded with babies, hearts burdened with sorrow, eyes blinded with weeping, minds engulfed with distractions…
“Where are you?” His voice still beckons.
Do you hear the sound of His coming? Wrapped in flesh to unwrap your shame. Carrying your sin to wrap you in His righteousness. Come out from hiding. You can come out from under that cloak of shame. You can come out from your makeshift robes of self-help, self-love, self-hatred, and self-consumption. Your self-efforts are like those flimsy leaves -–- inadequate to cover and powerless to heal.
Where are you? He’s looking for you today.
The question is … can you hear Him calling? Have you been lulled to sleep by the distractions of this world? Has the serpent enticed you to that slippery slope of consumerism and indifference? Have you become too comfortable in your shame, your grief, your pain, your fear, or your apathy to even hear His call? Do you want Him to find you?
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