Sin Separates us from God!
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Hiding from God
Adam and Eve had it made. They lived in paradise, and they had open communion with God in the cool of the day. The cool of the day is associated with a breeze. Communion with the Lord may have been like a breeze that came and refreshed them. But Satan couldn’t allow mankind to glorify God in this beautiful garden. So he got them to violate just one command. And he did that by lying to them. And when they violated that command they no longer wanted to hear the voice of God in the cool of the day. They hid themselves. Notice God did not hide from Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve hid themselves from God.
Do we Hide Ourselves Today?
Satan is the great deceiver. That is one of his titles. The Lord says that Satan is the father or originator of lies (John 8:44). Today there is great deception. Parents lie to children, children lie to parents. News sources lie. Sometimes they do it intentionally and sometimes they do it unintentionally. But they do lie. Politicians lie. They know that if they repeat something often enough, there will be some people who will believe the lies. Thank God for every parent, every child, every news source, and every politician that does their best to tell the truth because they stand out in the crowd.
Many of us repeat lies because the lies are what we want to believe. If we refused to repeat anything critical or defamatory that we couldn’t affirm to in a court of law, we would probably have a lot less to say. Our conversations would likely be a lot sweeter and our comments a lot shorter if we were really concerned about speaking only the truth.
Intentional lies are sin. Some of us have to confess that we have intentionally lied at times. I know that all of us have lied unintentionally. When we find out that we have lied, we usually try to correct what we have said and we apologize for it. But when our lies are intentional, they not only affect our communion with God, they also affect the communion of others. Satan’s deception was subtle and intentional. His lie has had lasting consequences. We certainly don’t want to help him accomplish his demonic purposes
Truth is Important
Christians say that they have the Truth. If we repeat rumors that we do not know are true, if we lie in business dealings and say that our lies are “just business”, if we violate our marriage vows, how are people that need to know the truth going to believe that we are telling them the truth?. Many people today that do not read their Bibles seem to think that Christians are gullible and live in a fantasy world. After all, we believe in an absent King, we believe in His imminent return to judge the world and to save us from that judgment. But that promise is over 2000 years old. Surely, it would seem to the unsaved, that we believe in One who may have walked the earth as a man; but, certainly, He wasn’t the Son of God. And Satan has convinced the world that His promises are not literally dependable. But Truth will win and we need to make sure that our lives make it possible for others to believe us when we tell them the Truth.
Oh for a Return to Unhindered Fellowship
Knowing unhindered communion with God is a great blessing. We may live in the world but times alone with the Lord are a real paradise on earth. We are not going to enjoy those times if we have been deceived by Satan and if we start acting in a self-willed way that makes us happy but causes us to hide from the Lord. We will actually be spreading the self-willed Gospel of the great deceiver rather than the self-sacrificing Gospel of the Lord, our great Savior.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of December 8, 2013