Confronted, Cursed, Covered
Read Time: 10 mins
At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel… And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
Genesis 3:7-15, 21 NLT
You can often get some sense of the health of a church or community by how many “silent requests” there are during a time of prayer. I understand that not everyone needs to know every intimate detail of your situation. I understand that you may not even have the words to fully articulate what you’re going through, and that the Holy Spirit can translate moans and groans enough to intercede even when you can’t articulate. But I feel like our lack of communication in times of communal prayer is often because we don’t believe we can safely express and confess. We believe that vulnerability will leave us as a victim, and openness will leave us ostracized. We don’t often believe we can share without shame or break without blame. We often don’t believe it’s safe to really talk about what’s really going on, and this isn’t just seen in the church body through our lack of personal prayer requests. It’s seen in how we communicate with and relate to God in our private lives.
In the fifth chapter of the book of James, we’re urged to be honest and humble enough to confess our sins to each other and then rally around each other in prayer so that we will find healing. The text argues that many of us may be missing out on healing, relief, or breakthrough because we’re too afraid to be honest. We’re too afraid to take off our armor and be real about our wounds. But God is saying that our symphony of silent prayer requests are not going to lead to the healing we desire. We need to confess.
We’re told that if we confess our sins, Jesus can be trusted to forgive us and purify us. We’re told that whoever conceals their sins will not prosper, but the one who confesses and turns from them will find mercy. All through the Bible, we’re told that healing and wholeness are available, but we struggle with admitting we’re sick and accepting the salvation our Doctor provides.
It seems that Adam and Eve dealt with the same symptoms of shame and fear of being found out that we do. In the third chapter of Genesis, Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God didn’t tell them not to eat the fruit because He wanted it for Himself or had another selfish or superficial reason. God knew that intimate knowledge or experience with evil would hurt His creation and didn’t want them to have knowledge of unnecessary pain. He was trying to protect them, but Eve was tricked into believing that God's boundaries were blocking her from blessings and not burdens. So she eats the fruit and gives some to her husband, who also chooses to abandon trust in God and eat it too.
After they eat, something interesting happens. Shame creeps in. The Bible says that those who once were naked and knew no shame begin to clothe themselves. Adam and Eve take fig leaves and fashion clothes to hide and protect themselves.
Fig Leaves (distance from others)
This is one of the first things many of us do when we experience the shame of sin. We create boundaries with each other. When safety turns to shame, we develop clothes to protect against closeness.
While this self-made covering represents the false or idealized version of ourselves that we often project to the world to cover and hide the shame we feel in our true identities, the use of fig leaves in general is significant because Adam’s job was to cultivate the garden. His first response to shame is to hide behind what he was called to steward. He hides behind what’s working when everything else is falling apart. He hides behind his job and the gifts God gave him when his inner world starts to crumble. He’s essentially saying, “Don’t look at me, look at what I can do! Look at the gifts God gave me!” Don’t we often do the same?
When we are afraid that people will see our true selves, our nakedness, we often hide behind what we can do or try to distract from our shame by shining light on the areas we feel successful in. We try harder, sing louder, or fight to be more accomplished when all that is just throwing clothes on to hide a body that needs inner healing. Adam and Eve showcase the best to each other in an effort to conceal the worst from each other. But they don’t just hide from each other; they hide from God.
So They Hid (distance from God)
The couple who were once naked, vulnerable, honest, and intimate are now projecting in an effort to prove themselves to and protect themselves from each other. And that’s when they start hearing God. You’d think God being near would be a good thing, but not when you believe everyone you meet is at risk of seeing the real you and punishing you for it.
We often can’t help but connect our relationships to others with our relationship to God. If our earthly father were this way, we believe God will be that way too. If our earthly friends were this way, we believe God would react that way too. As Adam and Eve close off to each other, they believe God is coming to do the same thing. As they compete to find fault in each other to prove their own worth, they believe God is coming to do the same thing. As they hurt each other, they assume God will do the same thing. So they hide.
How many of us have fallen into the same trap? We don’t pray the same. We don’t confess the same. We find ourselves sinking deeper and deeper into our shells as we convince ourselves that Christ comes to condemn and not comfort. But as they cover and cower, God begins to confront.
God, knowing that confession is the key to their comfort, begins to confront them with questions, and these questions begin to draw them out of hiding. God asks Adam where he is, not because God didn’t know, but because He wanted Adam to recognize that He was still seeking him and wanted him to come closer. But Adam hears this invitation to closeness through the lens of threat. God wants to comfort, and Adam still feels some need to protect against condemnation. So he blames Eve, and Eve blames the snake.
The Cycle of Shame vs The System for Salvation
This is the same cycle we often find ourselves in. Sin leads to shame, and shame leads to covering. We hide our true selves from God and others and fight whenever God gets too close, while retreating deeper into our isolation. But Jesus seeks to break that. While Adam and Eve cover, hide, and blame, God confronts, covers, and comforts.
Every time God confronts us with questions, it’s not because He doesn’t know the answer but because He wants you to step closer to it. As God asks questions, He’s actually leading Adam and Eve closer to the source of their struggles and the source of their strength. As soon as Eve mentions the devil, God confronts, curses, and contains him, and begins to comfort and cover them. We catch the conversation in Genesis 3:14-15,
“The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel” (Genesis 3:14-15 NET).”
God curses the snake and confines it to crawling so that it is limited in the injury it is able to inflict. He is essentially put on a leash. This is why God can promise that nothing will be allowed to come your way that you cannot overcome with Him. But God doesn't just stop the snake in a moment; He provides a plan to stop the snake forever.
The questions lead to God cursing the cause, and also offering lasting comfort. Notice how God says that while there will be conflict between humans and the devil (the woman, her seed, and the serpent), there won’t be equal damage done. While the serpent may bother and bruise the human's heel, the woman’s offspring would offer a deadly blow to the serpent’s head. This is the first instance of Bible prophecy pointing to Jesus defeating the devil. A child born from a human woman would put an end to the pain-causing serpent once and for all.
But that’s not all. God doesn’t just curse and confine the cause or offer a comfort that comes with knowing there will be a Christ. He covers them.
God knew that the fig leaf outfits they sewed together in their own power wouldn’t last. So the Bible says He fashioned them garments from skin. God knew that this sin problem would be deeper than they realized. He knew the conditions they’d be up against and recognized that what they could produce on their own would not be good enough to protect them. So He made them something better.
The deeper allusion in this text comes when you ask how God got the skin. This miraculous makeover points to the first death in history. It points to what John calls the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In order to be covered, something had to die, and scholars believe that God chose a spotless lamb in the physical space to point to what He was doing in the spiritual space. In order to survive, they had to be covered by something God provided.
The same is true for us. What they fashioned couldn’t last, but what God fashioned could. When we confess and come out of hiding, God will cover us with a righteousness we cannot produce on our own. It’s this robe of righteousness that scripture speaks about. It allows us to walk in what Jesus worked for. We’re covered by the lamb, so we can walk in what He earned.
Thats the greater good news that allows us to have the freedom to confess to God and each other. We may be broken, but were covered. We may not have it all together, but were covered. We may still make mistakes, but were covered. we arent counted by our sins. instead we are able to rest in the perfection that comes when a perfect lamb covers you. And when I believe I am covered by God, I am able to shed shame. I can walk freely in a new identity. God confronted, but for the purpose of cursing their sin and covering them.
What would’ve happened if Adam and Eve kept trying to hide? What would happen if they never confessed? What would’ve happened if they never learned that God's confrontation led to comfort and covering?
While Adam and Eve do it imperfectly with some blaming and some fear, they still come out from behind their hiding places and begin to open up before God. It’s when they start being honest that they start walking towards wholeness.
The issue is that we often put up more walls when God starts to confront and question. The conviction you feel is often the Spirit leading you deeper so that you can invite Him into the root causes of your problems. It may be uncomfortable. Actually, it will be uncomfortable. When you read the story, you’ll see that God tells Adam and Eve that while they’re covered, they’ll still have consequences. However, it’s all worth it. The devil is cursed and crushed. You are comforted and clothed. That’s good news. Now will you confess so that He can remind you of your healing?
Questions to consider:
Have you ever been afraid to be honest with God or others about what you're feeling or going through? Why?
What “fig leaves” have you used to cover your own feelings of nakedness? Success? Money? Food? Relationships? Or other emblems of accomplishment?
Has honesty or confession led to healing or comfort in your life?
