Genesis 3:6-10: a reflection

6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

Immediately after the first sin, everything changes. The man and woman, who had walked openly with God, now hide. When they hear the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden, they hide themselves among the trees. And then comes God's first question to fallen humanity, a question that echoes ever since: The LORD God called to the man and said, Where are you? Sin has made them hide, and God comes seeking, calling.

Notice the two movements here. First, the instinct of sin: to hide. Ashamed and afraid, the man and woman conceal themselves from God, covering themselves with fig leaves and slipping among the trees. Sin makes us hide, from God and from one another, driven by shame and fear. And second, God's response: he comes seeking. He does not abandon them to their hiding; he walks in the garden, calls out, Where are you? The God who could have simply withdrawn instead comes looking for the ones who are hiding from him.

That pattern runs all through Scripture and into our own lives. When we have sinned, the instinct is to hide, to conceal ourselves from God in shame, to keep our distance, to cover up. But God comes seeking. His Where are you? is not the demand of a hunter closing in, but the call of a God who comes looking for his hiding children, to draw them out of the shadows and back to himself. When you are tempted to hide from God in shame, remember that he is seeking you, calling, Where are you? Do not hide from the God who comes looking for you. Come out of the shadows, and answer his call.

Lord, after the first sin, the man and woman hid, and you came seeking, calling, Where are you? When I have sinned and my instinct is to hide from you in shame, to keep my distance, to cover up, remind me that you come seeking. Your Where are you? is not the demand of a hunter but the call of a God who comes looking for his hiding children. Help me not to hide from you, but to answer your call, come out of the shadows, and return to you, who seek me even when I flee.