When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, what was their first instinct to go and do? Check out the following verse:
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” -Genesis 3:8
If you notice, this verse said that they hid from God. They tried to “separate” themselves from Him out of fear. I’m sure they were feeling many emotions in that moment…shame, sadness, etc.
I think sometimes we are much like Adam and Eve. When we mess up, we often feel “separated” from God. We feel ashamed to go into His presence to ask for help. So we “hide” and try to be strong on our own. We run FROM the one who is able and willing to help us to fix it, instead of running TO Him. I think we often forget that God’s love is much stronger than human love can be sometimes. Often we think about earthly love from the perspective of us having to “earn” someone else’s affection.But I want to tell you guys something cool today…we cannot “earn” God’s love over our lives. He just loves us! Even when we mess up. And He wants to help.
Think about it from this perspective: If you are a parent, and your child does a behavior that you do not like, do you stop loving them? Of course not! You may not be pleased with the action, but you would always want to help your child to overcome the messes and trials that they face in their lives.God is the same way with us, my friends.
Check out the following verse: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39
THAT, my friends, is how much God loves you. He loves you on the days when you feel all of the “Holy Ghost Goosebumps”, and He loves you on the days when He feels super far away. He loves you when you’ve big time messed up. And He loves you on the days when you are rocking it! As humans, it is almost impossible to fathom just how great the Father’s love is for us.It’s only when we begin to wrap our minds around this concept that we can slowly begin to heal. Our instinct may still be to run and “hide” occasionally when we mess up, but when we realize the depth of God’s love for us the fear begins to slowly fade and we learn to run TO Him instead of AWAY from Him. God is a good Father, you guys. And yes-sin has consequences, but God factored in our “stupidity” when He put the call on our lives! Even when we do make a wrong turn, He is faithful to gently restore us in His love and get us back on the right track.Are there any areas of your life today when you have been “hiding” from God? Maybe you have felt ashamed to bring Him some areas of your life today where it feels like you have royally messed up. Been there. Done that. But in those moments…remind yourself: God loves you. Unconditionally. He is there to help. And just like that good parent, even when He isn’t pleased with every single one of our decisions, His love for us is so much stronger.