Shame: Genesis 3:7-13
Thankfully, God is a God of grace, love, and mercy. He wants us to know relationship with Him. He also knows we make mistakes. He is always working so we can have relationship with Him, we can still make mistakes, and He provides atonement for us so His righteousness is preserved. He is an amazing God.
Upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve suddenly become aware of their nakedness. Not to say they weren’t self-aware before, but their self-awareness didn’t include concepts like shame or rebellion. As they become more aware, they feel shame. We know they feel shame because they clothed themselves and hid when God came near.
In the past few years, American culture has been cancelling shame. To some level, I understand. People should never be shamed to the point they cannot recover, which causes people to just shut down. On the other hand, shame is a highly effective tool God gave us to understand we’ve doing something wrong. Genesis cannot be clearer about this point. The first thing Adam and Eve do upon eating the fruit is recognize their nakedness. The second thing they do is feel shame when God comes to the garden to spend time with them. Shame is a natural part of our emotions; it helps us understand when we’ve done something wrong.
Shame should always be recoverable. We make mistakes all the time; we should be empowered to recover from them. It might take an apology. It might take a sacrifice on our part to make amends. It might take time for the other person to forgive. There are always consequences to making a mistake, but there should always be an avenue to recovery. We’ll hear more about this as we continue this chapter.
God can see a physical demonstration of the change that occurred in Adam and Eve, although He certainly knew what had happened before he saw them. God confronts them, which is significant. God doesn’t just punish. God doesn’t call down fire to destroy. God asks what they did and gives an opportunity for dialogue. By asking the question, God’s already working the recovery plan.
As a person who hates confrontation, that’s hard for me to acknowledge. I typically see confrontation as stress and turmoil. However, confrontation is necessary. If we don’t confront, the best we can do is bury our mistakes – and nothing good ever comes from that! We need to confront to start the road to recovery.
Adam’s response to confrontation is to blame Eve. Eve’s response to confrontation is to blame the serpent. This genuinely shows their guilt. It also shows their immaturity, which is expected since they are so young in their knowledge of good and evil. Neither Adam nor Eve want to take responsibility for their actions. Here’s another place where they should feel shame about their choices. Given an opportunity to own up to one’s choices, Adam and Eve opt out. Thankfully, God is a God of grace, love, and mercy.
