He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Genesis 3:10 NIV
As a child, my mom’s parents owned a small grove of orange trees with a few grapefruits and tangerines. We would help “pick” them off the trees when they were ripe for harvest. But as children we loved to use the tangerines and oranges for weapons as we played army. You could re-throw the missed ammo and they didn’t hurt as bad as rocks when you got hit.
This was lots of fun…until granddaddy showed up. We learned to hide, at least we thought we were hiding, when we heard him coming. We were clueless to the value of the oranges for his livelihood. It would be great to say we only did it once, even with the fear of granddaddy, we found ways to play the game in other parts of the grove.
Why did Adam and Eve hide and become afraid? Sin includes the decision to willfully violate God’s laws. Jesus revealed that the motivation and the same degree of guilt starts first with our thoughts. “If you hate your brother, you have already committed murder in your heart.” Sin breaks the relationship.
Why does fear accompany the action? The consequences of sin creates a loss of communication between the two parties. Adam became aware of his nakedness, but he also lost the ability to know how God would respond. It was like the direct line of two way conversation was cut. Adam no longer knew how God felt, thought, or would respond to him. This breakdown in communication opens the door to fear.
After eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it is interesting that the “lack of knowledge” leads to fear. This fear is true of human relationships also, which we call fear of man. Our lack of “knowing” creeps into all sorts of relationships like parent-child, boss-employee, teacher-student and even husband-wife. It causes us a lot of angst not knowing for sure how they will respond or what they are thinking about us.
When fear is repressed, it produces a hardness of heart. A person no longer responds respectfully to God as authority. With their conscience seared, they move to make up their own rules of conduct which become a mere shadow of God’s plan for right living.
We don’t have to remain fearful of God for our sins. God has made a path for us to journey that leads to life and love. We will explore that path in another blog.
Blessings Love y’all