God Clothed Them and He Clothes Us
“And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife Eve garments of skins and clothed them.”
– Genesis 3:21
Ponder for a moment on what it must have been like to be clothed by God. Hours earlier, heartbreaking words had been introduced into the dictionary of the world—fear, guilt, and shame. Lying in ruins were two, grief-stricken souls from our original family of origin. A sorrowful man and woman who could now only possess memories of the ageless energy, undimmed joy, and child-like contentment that would remain unachieved by innumerable generations of sons and daughters from that day forth.
For those of us familiar with the tragic chapter of Adam and Eve, it’s hard not to read this end portion of the story and not feel the nakedness and regret that was surely emanating from their heartsick souls. Sin had entered the door of the world, and Adam and Eve were responsible for creating its origin story. We can all reflect back on a story in our lives that we wish we could reverse. An unwise decision that changed the course of our existence forever, or an unkind word that harmed a dear relationship that has never been repaired. Adam and Eve had experienced a utopian earth that they and their offspring would be banished from for many lives to come. Contemplating the enormity of this loss must have been overwhelming.
Still, will you wonder with me for a minute? Because maybe there is a more hopeful way for us to read and receive this verse? A more redemptive perspective would be to notice how God had not abandoned Adam and Eve in their cataclysmic loss of innocence, but showed His most Fatherly love for them imaginable by clothing them in their newfound nakedness.
I remember when I was a toddler and my mother would give me and my little brother a bath during the winter months of Southern California when it would dip down to frigid 60 degree temperatures. We would step out of the bath dripping wet and teeth chattering, and she would wrap a towel around each of us before we ran like banshees down the stairs to the fireplace, where we would sit in our miniature rocking chairs as the warmth of the embers thawed our shivering limbs. Like Adam and Eve, we weren’t left in the coldness of our nakedness. We had been covered. Clothed.
As you find yourself at the end of another year that may have exposed your own nakedness, how might you like to be “clothed?” Maybe you already bear the weight of another twelve months that you feel were squandered by bad luck and unfortunate circumstances. Perhaps you look back and see so many missed opportunities, and a new year that would be so much different had you just made some wiser decisions. Or maybe you feel disappointed because you had hoped for something new on the horizon that never materialized. It could be that you experienced some profound loss, and you are entering January with the stark realization that loneliness and limitations are once again your unwanted companions.
What you’ll find from our heavenly Father is a person who wants to clothe you, and cover the fear, guilt and shame that characterized the past year, and threatens to repeat the pattern as the new year beckons. In either the quiet or the cacophony of this present moment, we remember that the same God who clothed and covered Adam and Eve in their guilt and shame will not leave you unclothed in yours.
. . . as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
– 1 Corinthians 1:7–9
You are covered.
Adapted from The God Who is With Us by Ronnie Martin (© 2022). Published by B&H Publishing. Used by permission.
Ronnie Martin is the lead pastor of Substance Church (EFCA) in Ashland, Ohio. In addition to writing and speaking, Ronnie is also Director of Leader Renewal for Harbor Network, and co-host of The Happy Rant Podcast.