Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees in the garden.    Genesis 3:8

As a child I can remember reciting the nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Humpty Dumpty was an egg. Have you ever dropped a raw egg on the ground? There is no putting that back together.

In Genesis chapter 3 Adam and Eve had a great fall. There was also no putting them back to the way things had been. They would suffer the consequences for their sin.

Adam and Eve were living the good life. They had been placed in this beautiful garden in Genesis chapter 2. Everything they needed had been provided for them. And best of all, they had no knowledge of evil. Oh, I think it would be so wonderful to not even be aware that evil existed and to live in a world where we were blissfully ignorant of it. I think this is what heaven will be like. We will only be aware of what is good and what is pure. How awesome will that be?

But, it didn’t take long for the devil to come in and tempt them and they fell for it hook, line and sinker just as we often do. God let us know early on that He does not overlook our sin. He doesn’t give us a free pass. He dealt with Adam and Eve swiftly and fiercely. He didn’t merely give them a little tap on the top of their hands. There lives would change drastically at this point.

Our Scripture passage today is a sad one. If it weren’t so sad, it would actually be funny. Adam and Eve literally try to hide from God. They know they have sinned. They know they are guilty. So, instead of coming out and facing God and the consequences, they try to hide. The saddest part of this is as I read of their temptation and their fall, as my Bible has it titled, I am reminded of how I used to handle my own sin.

I used to think that I could hide my sin from God, but I learned that it would always find me out. If we read Genesis 3:12-13 we see that Adam and Eve try to play the blame game with God. When God confronts them about their sin, Adam says, “That woman you put here with me made me do it.”  He’s not only blaming Eve, but in a roundabout way He is blaming God for putting her there. Then Eve immediately blames the serpent. The devil made me do it, right?

But the bottom line is God is going to hold all three of them accountable for their part in the fall. The serpent is cursed more than any other animal. He is forced to crawl on his belly and eat dust. He will be an enemy to the woman for generations to come. The woman will have intense labor pains. She will desire her husband, but he will rule over her. Because of Adam’s sin the ground was cursed. We can thank Adam when we are pulling weeds and working up a sweat in our gardens.

We still suffer the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin and will continue to do so. But, in addition to this, we suffer the consequences of our own sin. We are held accountable. We can’t hide from God and He will not play the blame game with us. We are responsible for our own sinful behavior.

Have you been trying to hide your sin from God? We can’t hide anything from God. He knows all and He sees all. Isn’t it time to come clean with Him and confess your sin to Him? He already knows all about it.  Just talk to Him about it and let Him help you rid it from your life.

Know that there will be consequences, but I have found that the quicker you confess and repent, the quicker the healing can begin. Sometimes we are like Humpty Dumpty and Adam and Eve, we take a great fall. We may suffer severe consequences. But, we serve a loving, merciful God. He is a just God, so we will not go unpunished. But, He is a merciful God that will give us a chance to come to Him and repent. When we do so, we know that He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

There are consequences to our sin, but we also have the hope of redemption in Jesus Christ. Jesus died to save us from our sins. Turn to Him today. He can put you back together again.

Have a great day!