As I was driving to work yesterday, I felt the Lord speak to me – rather convicting me on how I perceive things. I believe, the message was not only meant for me; therefore I will share it with you. There are so many times that I have looked at the physical things that people have attained; full of admiration, I only had positive things to say about their achievements. There are so many times that I have seen elevations at work, ministry and in society and I have marveled at their success. But as I was driving to work yesterday, something that had never crossed my mind was presented to me. It changed the rest of my day. And it changed my thinking as well.
I was taken to Genesis 2:25, it reads, ” Adam and eve where naked and they felt no shame”.Then Genesis 3:17, “After eating the forbidden fruit they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves”. Very common scriptures right? Except the lesson was totally new. I have always known God as a gracious father who clothes His children. To me, He has always been a merciful God whos sees our weaknesses and forgives us. He sees all our attempts in fixing our mess and He comes in to take away the fig-tree leaves’ clothes that are not good enough and clothes us with animal-skin clothes.
What I was not aware was that at times you and I, look at someone who is naked and feel sorry for them. We look at someone who is well-clothed and automatically we conclude they are blessed. We look at the outside covering and deduce they are in a much better place. And yet the word of God teaches us that before the fall, Adam & Eve did not have clothes and they felt no shame. This was when they were at their best! At that point, they had everything they needed. God’s presence was all the coverage that they needed.
Sometimes we are so blind and we judge ourselves and others based on what the eye sees. Without the background info, we quickly assume that when one is clothed, they are blessed. Sometimes, we find it easy to give glory to God based on the “animal-skin clothes”, purple and fine linen and luxuries in our everyday life. And yet God’s glory prevails, even more, when He is our ALL. We are our best when we have Him and dwell in His presence. We are our best when He has clothed us with what He deems necessary in any season of our lives. In Luke 16, Lazarus was clothed ( covered) with sores and yet he lived in God’s presence. The same applies to a season in Job’s life.
My prayer is for you today to take some time to reflect on your life. Ask yourself if there were seasons in your life when you were ‘naked but unashamed’? It could be seasons when you did not have much, but you were closer to God and had peace in your life. Ask yourself, if you do not worry about getting clothed at the expense of losing your shame and every covering that the Lord has upon your life. If you have ever worried, take time to go before the LORD today and ask for forgiveness. Ask yourself, if you have not found comfort in being clothed and forgotten about how you need to live in His presence? Now is a good time to ask God to help you to get back to where you belong i.e– in His presence -fully clothed by HIM.
Meditate on Psalm 91 which teaches us that in His presence is covering, rest, comfort, protection. Feel free to comment below. be blessed!
Leave a Reply