Hiding among the Trees - Devotional by Darren Hewer

Please open your Bible and read Genesis 2:25-3:10

Take a trip with me back in time. Way back – to the dawn of creation, when Adam & Eve lived the good life in the Garden of Eden. They had a pretty sweet deal there. That is, until that infamous day, when as politicians are sometimes fond of saying, in gross understatement, “Mistakes were made“. But Adam & Eve didn’t just make a mistake; they sinned by disobeying God’s clear instructions. (Genesis 2:16-17)

We are told that just before the incident neither Adam nor Eve felt any shame (Genesis 2:25). Yet just afterwards, how quickly their behavior reflects their change in disposition: “Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees.” (Genesis 3:8) That makes sense. “God’s coming! Quick! into the trees!”

This sad event marked the beginning of humankind’s tenancy to try to hide from God. We still try to hide from God today. How futile is that? We have to remember that whatever is done in “secret” is not really secret at all. Even if we have been able to fool our family and friends, God is not fooled, and He “carefully watches the way people live; He sees everything they do.” (Job 34:21). Our attempts to hide our sin amount to nothing more than hiding among the trees.

Do we keep secret sin hidden in our hearts? Even as Christians, who personally know Jesus our God, and have been redeemed by His blood? Unfortunately, even as new creations, we are still sinners. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)

But we also live with constant hope, because we know that by continually returning to God by repenting and readjusting our lives whenever we recognize our sin, God’s provision in Christ will cover us: “If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.” (1 John 1:9)

Question: What sort of sins do we often try to hide from God?

by Darren Hewer
Used by Permission