“Here I am, Nana!” my three-year-old granddaughter calls out. Patting her chest in earnest, she looks up. And she waits. Hopeful.

I love those tender, soft hands. They speak of her innocence, to the joy of childhood. Oh, and those wide, deep brown eyes. She practically wills my gaze to drop down on her.

“Of course,” I reply as our eyes connect. “There you are!”

The moment of discovery pays off in squeals of delight, followed by a monster embrace and kisses. Satisfied, she goes off to the next thing; another round of our combined Lost and Found/Hide and Seek game over.

Zoey was confident of two things: Her Nana always knew where she was. And, there is great pleasure in being “found”!

Expecting Marvelous Things

In the Old Testament of the Bible, we read of another hide-and-seek incident. I think it is very likely the saddest story of all time.

In a perfect creation by the perfect Creator, the Lord God had provided for every genuine need. The shrubs and plants needed water. God provided. Cultivation and irrigation were needed, and God provided that. Adam needed a helpmate, and God wonderfully provided Eve. And, God set a boundary in place; the bounds of which led to life. (Genesis 2)

But then, tempted to choose independence from their Creator God, Satan’s twisted remarks lead Adam and Eve to consider that just maybe they needed something more. Something desirable that God had not yet given. “Did God actually say … You will not surely die …” (Genesis 3:1-4, ESV).

Enticed away from the One they could trust to satisfy every need, Adam and Eve disobey God’s command. And, now they are in unchartered territory.

I wonder, did they expect marvelous things?

Instead, it is shame and fear that immediately unfold in the aftermath of their disobedience. Too late, Adam and Eve realize the foolishness of doing what had been forbidden.

THEN the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked … Genesis 3:7, emphasis added

Adam and Eve were never afraid in the presence of God before; but happiness has turned to misery. A once joyful relationship is broken, and something is very different when they hear “the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day …” (Genesis 3:8).

Worse still, where before Adam and Eve were “both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25), they have gone into hiding. Fearful, they are separated from the very help they need.

But God graciously does not hide from Adam and Eve. God seeks out the fig-leaf-clad couple.

Awesome Dread. Astonished Devotion.

“Where are you?” the LORD God calls to the man (Genesis 3:10).

Unclothed, unarmed, fearful to contend with God, Adam admits, “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).

A good question to consider here might be: Wouldn’t you be? Fearful of the Almighty God of the universe, that is.

I often think that today we have lost the “fear of God” in favor of a too casual, lax attitude.

David Jeremiah, in one of his sermons, calls this lost fear an “awesome dread”: Awe and dread. Natural responses from the imperfect to the perfect, of the marred to the beautiful, of the contaminated to the pure, culminating in a healthy fear of a holy God (Isaiah 8:13).

Who Am I To You? Blog

God knew full well what had transpired with Adam and Eve; just as He knows us and our sin. And God never ignores sin or brushes it aside, like we do.

Without the righteousness of Christ to clothe us, we have reason to be afraid of approaching God. Yet in His perfect love, God provided — a love so strong, so available, so secure. God pursues the guilty sinner, leading us to repentance and forgiveness.

… the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin … If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:7-9

There. Right there in Jesus Christ is the courage to not hide (Romans 8:1-2). Right there is the amazing grace to walk in humble boldness straight to God (Hebrews 4:14-16).

And there in astonished devotion, we come with honor and reverence because of God’s greatness and majesty. Right there in worship we enter into the fearful wonder of who God is (Psalm 89:6-7). What great pleasure there is being found!

Fear of God and love of God are not in conflict. When we truly know the fear of God,
we will also truly know the love of God. And when we truly know the love of God,
we will also truly know the fear of God.
– David Jeremiah