The story of “The Fall of Man” in Genesis was never an interesting story to me… until I realized that it was my story, too.
I know the story. God creates the world, and it’s good. God creates man, and it’s very good. And then man goes and does something not so good; man chooses the world over God.
That moment, the moment man chose the world over God, was the moment that changed everything forever.
Park out in Genesis 3 with me for a second.
First of all, let’s all agree that Satan is the worst. I think that’s pretty common knowledge. But that doesn’t mean that what he sometimes has to offer doesn’t look appealing. Verse 1 of Genesis 3 says that the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field. I like the word used to describe him- crafty. Have you ever noticed that Satan doesn’t create anything? He takes what is already there and manipulates, twists, and perverts it into something false and sinful. Satan may be crafty, but he is not creative. He begins to question Eve, asking her if God actually said that she couldn’t eat from the fruit. He goes on to say that God doesn’t want her to eat the forbidden fruit because He’s keeping something good from her.
How often does this happen to us? God keeps us from something to protect us but we’re convinced that it is somehow still good for us.
“If you go out and drink with your friends, they’ll accept you.”
“If you sleep with your boyfriend, he’ll love you.”
“If you make this your god, you’ll truly be satisfied.”
And we fall, just like Adam and Eve.
But can I tell you something? Their story doesn’t end here, and neither does yours.
When Adam and Eve realized what they had done, they realized that they were naked. They were physically naked, yes, but they were also emotionally vulnerable. They made some clothes out of fig leaves and hid.
When we sin, it’s easy to want to run and hide from it. It’s easy to try to sew some fig leaves together and try to fix it ourselves. But we don’t have to do that.
Take a look at verse 8. This is my favorite part of the story. Verse 8 starts out by saying, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden.” Did y’all catch that? God came to them, He sought out sinners. He came to them in their brokenness, their nakedness, their mess. He went to go find them even when they hid from Him.
What He does next is amazing. He doesn’t ask them, “What have you done?” He asks them, “Where are you?” This isn’t just a question of their physical location; He wants to know where they’re at spiritually and emotionally. The same man who created the universe wants to know how you are. Wrap your head around that.
God makes them new clothes. He clothes them with animal skin, which is a way better solution than what they thought up for themselves. He had to get that skin from somewhere, right? This is where we see the first sacrifice of the Bible. And what He does here is symbolic of what Jesus would eventually do on the cross- He shed His blood to cover our sins, our sin that separates us from God.
God was not surprised by Adam and Eve’s sin, and He is not surprised by ours. He foresaw our every fall, our every sin, our every backsliding, yet, nevertheless, fixed His heart upon us. He knew what kind of relationship He was getting into with you. He knew you’d be unfaithful and He still pursued you.
But He doesn’t want us to keep being unfaithful. He wants us to come to Him, lean into Him, depend on Him.
So come as you are. Broken, bleeding, imperfect, messy. Your sin has been covered by the blood of Christ. You are not beyond repair. You are not too far gone.
