Don't wear fig leaves

Have you ever had those times where you can't find God. You look and look, but can't seem to find Him anywhere. Times like that can be so frustrating. Often times I get in that place. I can look in nature for Him, and not find Him. I turn on the worship music really loud, that helps but I still can't find Him. I read His word looking for Him there, and it is dry time of just words on a page. I pray and then wake up after a good nap not really finding Him there either. Those times are frustrating and almost depressing.

The other day I visited Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. In that story I read how all was well in the Garden of Eden. They actually walked with God in the cool of the day. Talk about being tight with God! They had the best of what God had to offer them. Until the unspeakable happened. In one simple act of disobedience they changed the course of history as we know it. Not only did the act of eating the forbidden fruit mess things up for us, it messed things up for them as well. As I read the story and discovered how they reacted to their sin, I found myself. Not only did they cover themselves up with fig leaves trying to hide from God, but each other as well. Then they actually tried to hide in the undergrowth of the Garden.

I do the same thing. I hide when I sin. Deep down I long for His presence, actually I hunger for it! But at the same time I hide from God. Then I also hide from those people in my life that I love. I sure don't want them to see me in all my ugliness. We often create a barrier that won't allow others to see us as God created us, and we become self centered. This is not good for anyone.

I wear fig leaves. Do you wear them too? I think that is why there are times when we search for God in all the places where we have always found Him and still come up empty. It isn't that He is missing, it is that we are trying to hide from Him. We often cover our eyes with fig leaves, like a hat with a really big floppy brim. We see glimpses of Him, but for the most part, not all of Him. The undergrowth that we hide in obstructs our view of Him. How silly it seems to think that we can hide from God. Deep down we know that He can see all things, and yet we try to hide anyway.

What if Adam and Eve didn't hide from God after they sinned and ate that juicy piece of fruit? What if they stood there with the pit still in their hands and cried out to God for forgiveness? What if we were to choose to do the same thing each time we sin? Putting on the fig leaves is a choice that we make too. Which choice will you make? I dare you to stand naked before God. I bet you will find Him then.