Hide and Seek

 

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:8-13 ESV).

 

Almost all of us have participated in “hide and seek.” When I was old enough to know better, but not old enough to fear the consequences, our neighborhood played hide and seek with slingshots and chinaberries. That made for a very exciting game! I’m sure you have similar experiences of a game that got out of hand. Perhaps people ended up high in trees, or underneath abandoned buildings. Maybe someone hid too well, and got lost for hours. It becomes an unforgettable memory. Back in 2010, a few friends in Italy played that kind of game: the kind that was so good, they wanted to bring other people into it. And so they did. Every first Saturday in September (other than this year due to the pandemic) they’ve hosted the Nascondino World Championships, a weekend-long romp that proclaims itself as “the only hide and seek international competition.”

 

We see something of that kind of “game” in our reading today. “Where are you?” God asks Adam. This question is not about where Adam and Eve are hiding. Something bigger than that is happening here. Genesis 3 tells of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, their fall into sin, which now infects all of us. The fruit looked delicious and desirable, but all it revealed was that they were naked. They tried to hide from God in their shame, making simple garments of fig leaves.

 

God’s footsteps echoed in the garden, and his voice sounded, “Where are you?” God knew, but they needed to know they were lost. “Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. Today God still asks, “Where are you?” I heard it when I was in college all those years ago. God pursued me into my wilderness, where the haunting question suddenly turned comforting. He wasn’t out to get me into trouble but to give me the promise that he’d provided a Savior, his Son. “Stay where you are. I’ve sent my Son for you!” God assured me. This is the God we worship! What a Savior!