January 21, 2021 — Fig-Leaf Fashions

One thing worse than doing wrong is trying to cover it up. Adam and Eve proved it didn’t work anyway.

The scene: the breathtakingly beautiful garden of Eden. The characters: Adam and Eve. Everything around them is perfect. BUT they have acted in self-willed, brazen defiance of God—high treason against the government of the universe. Imagine! When you or I commit sin, we are doing it not only against the Person who designed us, and loves us, but as Daniel told Belshazzar, He’s “the God who holds your breath in His hand” (Dan 5:23). Now watch as our first parents try to patch up their problem with fig leaves! They sewed them into crude coverings and were soon modeling their camo haute couture. But nobody fixes anything by cover-up. God made two statements that stand like sentinels before our sinful race. The first is Numbers 32:23 – “You have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.” The second is Proverbs 28:13 – “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” We keep trying to cover up our sins, but God won’t let us. Why? It’s only by coming clean with Him that we will be able to prosper. Those fig-leaf outfits are like man-made religion. They don’t provide a true answer for sin; they just try to disguise it. Does it work? What happened when God showed up? They hid among the trees! When God asked for an explanation, they said, “We knew we were naked!” So much for self-help fig leaves! We may fool people around us with our good efforts, but wait till God shows up! How much better to come clean with Him. Why not take to heart Isaiah 55:7 – “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”