After the Fall, Adam and Eve’s eyes were open, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Having covered themselves, when they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden, Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Why did they hide?
As a result of the Fall Adam and Eve saw themselves and each other for the first time without the grid of their union with the presence of God. Their self-consciousness no longer included a God-consciousness, so they suffered from self-rejection, the fear of rejection, and the horrible anxiety that comes with it. They hid from God behind the trees because they were so struggling with insecurity that they feared God would reject them and that in His glorious presence, their spiritual bankruptcy and nakedness would be unbearable.
Isn’t this what we often do. Don’t we hide from each other, and don’t we pretend to be other than who we really are when we are around others because we fear if they saw who we really were they would abandon us. I believe hiding was the enemy’s goal at the Fall. Hiding makes it impossible for us to be truly intimate and it makes it so hard for us to hear God or anybody else to tell us even lovingly, that we are getting something wrong. It’s as if, because we so struggle with self-rejection, we just can’t stand to hear that there is something else wrong with us. I believe the immediate result of man’s self-rejection is that Adam and Eve created a false God. Adam and Eve no longer saw themselves through their consciousness of God. After the Fall, they saw God that the consciousness of their self-rejection. Remember, God did not hide from them; they hid from God. His love and heart for them not changed at all. They were the ones who had changed. Not only did He not hide from them; He came looking for them (He always comes looking for us when we fall, with hope in His heart toward us for He is “the God of hope.) When He cried out, “where are you” it wasn’t a geographical question. It was an emotional one. God missed them in the intimate fellowship He created them for. Adam and Eve created a false God who is primarily a judge, but God was still the God of love He had always been. When God asked them what they had done, instead of owning their stuff, they got defensive and blamed something outside of themselves for the reason for their brokenness and failure. That’s what Hiders do.
During this season of Lent, the God of hope will come to us to reveal places of brokenness (hidden places that we would like to keep hidden) not so he can scold us and reject us, but so He can heal us, make us whole in His presence, and bring us out of hiding.
During this season of Lent I encourage you to lay down the anxiety, come out from behind the trees and be vulnerable, for God wants to restore you to His original vision of your living in Him and seeing yourself for the consciousness of His presence and goodness.”