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“I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid.” Genesis 3:10

Although I’ve read Genesis many times over at this point in my walk with Christ, a wonderful Lent devotional I’m doing this year included Genesis 3:10, and four words popped out at me as if I’ve never seen them: “and I was afraid.” The devo author also noted (yet not even as his main point) that when sin entered the world, so did fear. He moved on, I did not.

It struck me to the core that there was no fear—and no fear of God—before sin. No shame, no hiding from God. No separation from God. Just a perfect relationship (with God and between Adam and Eve) of unashamed love and unabashed joy.

And then my mind leaped to what seems like a lifetime ago when my two boys were toddlers. Their unashamed love and unabashed joy (before their perspectives were filtered with the dimness of reality). Another toddler observation is this: when they do something wrong, they hide. Somehow (well, not really “somehow”, but because they’re made in God’s image with God’s law written on their heart—Hebrews 8:10; 2 Corinthians 3:3), they know two things: (1) that they did something wrong and (2) that there will likely be consequences/punishment for said thing. Because they are tiny people, the hiding is cute—especially when they think they’re “hidden” because they can’t see you, so in their little minds, you can’t see them (as by simply covering their eyes to become unseen).

Another toddler thing (not so cute) is this: when they want to do what they want to do, they run away from us parents who would say otherwise—or at least they’d try their best to do so. They pull with all their might to free themselves from mom’s hand. They struggle for release from being held in daddy’s arms (usually to keep them from harm or trouble). Oh, toddlers.

Oh…us.

Doesn’t this sound just like us in our relationship with our Father God? It all started in the Garden with our original earthly parents, but nothing’s really changed. We sin (because we’re sinners), and we hide from Him as if, like said toddler and his momma, God doesn’t already know where we are. And when we want to go our own way—to think we have a better plan than God does—we pull away (or run away, as the case may be). We pry our ignorant little hands out of the Father’s to pursue our fleshly desires at the altar of self-worship. Because of the fall in the Garden, this is our propensity as humans: to sin, to hide in shame, to try to be the god of our own life. The result? Fear and separation. Fear of judgment and punishment (even if subconscious), fear of being found out. And we create distance from the Creator who loves us and designed us for a perfect relationship with Him.

So (and this is where the toddler analogy breaks down), we can and must choose to run back to the Father. In confession and repentance—and forgiveness. Sin leads to fear. There’s fear of admitting our sin (confession) and then refusal to repent (turn and go the other direction)—usually because of shame or pride. And, friend, when our sin leads to fear and hiding and separation from God without stopping the cycle, our just Father will judge us. There are consequences for being out of a right relationship with Him. But when sin leads to confession and repentance, our Father is quick to forgive (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:32)! In this repentance that leads to forgiveness, fear evaporates (2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 34:4)!

As believers made right with God at salvation, we still do the above cycle to lesser and lesser degrees in our sanctification journey. (Until we’re perfected with the Lord, that’s our plight in this fallen world.) However, for those who have not yet surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it’s an ongoing lifestyle, this fear and running. But it doesn’t have to be! All it takes is admitting there’s a problem, confessing that only Jesus can make the way of reconciliation, and BAM! Forgiveness and a new life of wanting to please God are yours! Again, there is the battle against the world system, the enemy, and our flesh on the road Home, but this walk can be fearless when we stop fighting Him to go our own way…and simply trust the loving, forgiving arms of our heavenly Father.

“Father, You are Good. And You are Just. But when we are in right standing with You through Jesus, there is no more judgment to fear (1 John 4:18).”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life