To put it in modern slang terms – Adam and Eve got catfished.
They were promised that eating of the fruit of tree would bring them a life where they would be ‘like God’. They would know good and evil for themselves. They wouldn’t have to rely on God anymore – they could decide for themselves.
Well… sometimes you get what you ask for and regret it.
Where before they knew only good, now they also know evil. And now they have a new experience – the feeling of nakedness that brings shame. Compare these two (before and after)
BEFORE – Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25
AFTER – (Adam) answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Genesis 3:10
They were naked in both instances, but what that nakedness meant for them changed. The Hebrew word is ‘aram’ which is also translated as vulnerable. In a positive sense – they were vulnerable to God before the fall – free and open and trusting completely. In a negative sense – they felt vulnerable to God after the fall – exposed and at risk, open to easy attack.
The fall brought with it a brokenness – breaking the eternal communion that we were created to have with God in the garden. It gave us fear and mistrust – a vulnerability that leads us to close in and protect ourselves. It gives guilt and shame – a feeling of disgrace and unworthiness of other’s attention. And it led to blame – Adam blaming Eve (or maybe even God?) for giving him the apple and Eve in turn blaming the serpent for their disobedience. Blame is the tainted next step to feeling broken and vulnerable – the need to justify our actions as the result of others or situations beyond our control.
And so they hid (and we hide) from God – our connection is broken and the vulnerability that could lead to such great intimacy with God instead leads us to fear, to mistrust, to guilt and shame and, ultimately, to blame – justifying our sin by pointing to our situations and to others.
But here’s the beauty of this story – we may be broken, but God doesn’t give up on us.
Adam and Eve try to hide from God, but God doesn’t hide from them! He calls out to them. He seeks them out and wants to restore what is broken. God continues to provide for them – going so far as to give them what they need (clothes) even while telling them that there are consequences to their actions. And God protects them, even if it doesn’t feel that way. He keeps them from the tree of life which would have perpetuated their life of sin forever.
Our link with God may be broken, but God doesn’t abandon us. Though Adam and Eve broke their relationship with God (and we do as well) God doesn’t give up on them (or on us). He still calls out for us to be vulnerable – to step away from the guilt and shame of sin and walk with Him again.
May we be willing to turn the vulnerability that leads us to fear, mistrust, guilt, shame and blame into a vulnerability that exposes us to true trust and reliance on God.