Revolt: The Story of God's Pursuit of Imperfect Peopleনমুনা

So, what do we do with our sin? This was the challenge that Adam and Eve faced. The Bible is clear that the moment they sinned, “the eyes of both of them were opened” (Genesis 3:7). Adam and Eve saw their heinous sin for what it was and knew that they had blown it.

Have you ever been there? Of course! We all have. In the moment, a sinful choice seems to make so much sense. It’s almost like we can’t help but go down a path we know we should not walk. Then, when we step across the line, the sin lets us down. This is what sin does: it over-promises and under-delivers. It says it will provide us with happiness, fulfillment, and hope—but it takes far more than it gives. We end up with shame, guilt, condemnation, and despair.

Adam and Eve’s first response when they realized they had sinned was to try to cover themselves because of the shame they felt. Before they sinned, they were naked and unashamed. But now, because of their sin, they felt exposed. So they sewed fig leaves together and made “coverings for themselves” to try to hide their shame (verse 7).

Today, our “fig leaves” look much different than those worn by Adam and Eve, but we are all still guilty of trying to hide our shame. Some of us believe that hard work will somehow mask the sins lurking in our hearts. Others among us run to religion, steeped in rules of how to be “right,” in an attempt to cover our sin by being good—often in a hypocritical way that makes us outwardly look righteous while inside we are hiding a perverted heart. Whatever our “leaves” of choice are, the reality is that we all try to hide our shame.

Adam and Eve’s next response when they realized they had sinned was to try to hide from God (see verse 8). The story in Genesis portrays a comical scene. Can you imagine the two ducking behind a bush in a remote corner of the Garden, hoping the Creator of the universe would not be able to find them? It’s the worst game of hide-and-seek ever. God was going to find them. But we are no different. We still love to try to hide from God! We hope that if we just lay low, God will ignore us and overlook our rebellion against Him. Maybe He will forget—or maybe if enough time passes, He won’t think our sin is such a big deal anymore.

God’s story contains one more response to sin. After Adam lost the hide-and-seek game, God called him out and held him accountable for eating the fruit. How did Adam respond? He did what almost every person does when he or she gets busted. He blamed someone else. First, he blamed Eve—or, more specifically, blamed God for giving him Eve (see verse 12). Then Eve blamed her failure on the serpent. Rather than owning their sin, Adam and Eve both blamed someone or something else, hoping their finger-pointing would free them from punishment.

Sin is the reason for all of life’s suffering. The world is broken because of sin. Try as we might, we cannot escape sin’s death grip on our lives or in our world. Shame, hiding, and blame only heighten the problem. One thing is certain: the answer to humanity’s predicament would not come from sinful people. The only way to escape sin’s power would be through God’s power and through His plan. The rest of the Bible will describe that plan, clearly showing us God’s design to save sinners and fix the world through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Respond

Name a few times in your life when you have tried to hide something from someone else or shift the blame. How did that work out?

Why is Jesus, and not a human agent, the only answer to humanity’s sin problem?