“Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:9-10
Think of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Eve just sinned by listening to the serpent and eating of the fruit that God had told her not to eat. She told Adam what she did and now he has to make a decision. Genesis 3 tells us something amazing. “She also gave to her husband
with her, and he ate.” God’s word says he joined Eve in her
sin. He is faced with losing Eve or disobeying God. Who does he love more? God or Eve?
We know the story. Adam eats of the fruit and shortly after he did,
He realizes what he has done. God’s word says Adam’s and Eve’s
eyes were opened. Now they know evil, something God never
intended them to know. Now they realize what evil has done to
heir relationship with God – disobedience created separation.
Meeting God now causes them dread instead of joy. When God
appears in the Garden in the cool of the evening to walk with them,
He calls for Adam who makes this statement. “I heard Your voice in
the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
The word afraid is used over 330 times in he Old Testament. It means to be terrified. It is used in Exodus 1:17 of the midwives who Pharaoh ordered to kill the boy babies of Israel. They might have been afraid to disobey Pharoah but they were terrified at the thought of sinning against God. Adam now realizes that but for him it is too late. He broke God’s commandment and he is terrified. He must meet God face to face and give an account for what he has done..
Over and over in scripture we are told to fear God. Solomon writes how important this is. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” Ecclesiastes 12:13 Many people say this fear is the awe or reverence. We are to be in awe of how great God is. This is definitely true but that definition is not complete. When we read the command in the Old Testament it is almost always associated with keeping God’s commandments. Don’t be afraid to do the right thing but fear disobeying God. We are told the same thing in the New Testament. Peter writes, “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
What can we learn? We are told not to fear people or circumstances in this life. Nothing is greater than our God who is in total control of all that happens. Fear is the direct opposite of faith for it doubts the character and power of God to protect us. So why fear God? He is holy, perfect and righteous. James says in Him, “there is no variation or shadow of turning”. He is the same God Adam feared meeting in the Garden of Eden because of his sin. He cannot, will not, accept or tolerate sin – there are no exceptions. He must judge sin. In this age of grace we understand the cost to pay for our sin – the blood of God’s Son. Too often we make a grievous error. We forget
about God’s holiness and how awful sin is. Instead of seeing God for His greatness, holiness and purity we start to think of Him as our friend, our pal. That leads to a diminished hatred of sin – we minimize God’s holiness as well as the horror of sin. When we forget the hotness of God and how heinous sin is to Him we discount the greatness of what Christ did for us on Calvary. God’s holiness reminds us of that price! Fear coming to Him in any other way.