Who Told You That You Were Naked?

Conviction and Condemnation

Last month I was listening to an interview on the radio. James Merritt was talking about his book "52 Weeks With Jesus". The interviewer, Lynne Ford, read an excerpt from his book and I've been thinking about it ever since. You can follow the link to hear the whole interview, but I'll paraphrase the excerpt here.

There was a group of tourists watching a flock of sheep. A man was chasing them where he wanted them to go and one of the people watching asked their guide why the shepherd was chasing the sheep from behind. Don't sheep follow their shepherd?
Yes they do, the guide told them. The person chasing the sheep wasn't the shepherd.
It was the butcher. Jesus leads. It's the devil who chases.

Notice that both motivate. Jesus asks us to go along with Him where He's already gone ahead of us, protecting, preparing, promising. The 23rd Psalm is crammed with practical allegory about the trusting relationship. Sheep trust their shepherd.

Then there's the enemy. He chases us from behind with fear, accusation, and discouragement. We don't move because we trust the devil we move because we fail to trust The Shepherd. We believe the lie just like Adam and Eve did.


1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” [see the subtle cynicism here? The ever-so-slight criticism of God? The devil knew what God really said. He wasn't asking a question, he was planting one in Eve's mind]

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4“You will not certainly die,”[big, fat, filthy, LIE] the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, [very true] and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [he knows they don't understand the implications of "knowing". He knows that he's implied that God is holding out on them, that He's offered something less than His best. Not directly spoken, but another HUGE lie, nonetheless.]

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. [doesn't it just make your heart sick every time you read it?] She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [Adam sitting silent is a topic for another day] 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. [They let the enemy chase them to their shame]

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”


Okay, so if you've hung in here with me though my little commentary, here's my point:
God is not the one who shames. He is not the one who scorns, or condemns.
The enemy does that.
Though he has nothing anywhere like Our Father's power* he is sneaky and efficient. He mixes up lies and the truth to trip you up. Your enemy will chase you toward sin and then try to make you feel like scum for failing.
If the voice whispering to your spirit is sneering at you in disgust you can bet your favorite hoodie that it's not Your Father, but your enemy.

So here's a practical example for you: You lost your temper and spoke harshly to a friend or family member. You know you hurt them and now you regret your words and your tone.

The enemy: You really messed up. They hate you now and you've done irreparable damage. Things like that are the reason [fill in the blank with an insecurity he's choosing to pick at, adding discouragement to guilt and shame]

The Father: Your words were spoken in anger. You know from My Word that it is not My hope for you to sin in your anger. I want better for my children. You must ask forgiveness of Me and your loved one. In the future, call on Me when you are frustrated. I will use these trials to make you more like Me.

So there's some really good news. You have total access to The One who loves you as if there's no one else to love. James 4;7 says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Because of Him you have authority over the enemy of your soul. At the Name of Jesus, he, the accuser,will be the one chased away.






*read: the devil is not God's opposite; God has no opposite. the devil is not God's nemesis, though he's love for us to think it. He's under no such delusion himself, but knows he is defeated and has no power other than what God allows him. Again, that's a topic for another day.

Malicious Sneaky Product Placement

I've told you about how I'm trying to clean up the messiest room in my house. Yesterday Sam and I took another swing at it and we made some progress but it's still pretty bad. I still hold out tenuous hope that it will someday, before my boys graduate, be a cute little library type room.

Add caption

So this morning as I was running errands I thought I'd look at some rugs. I'm considering the one on the left in the picture. But as I was standing there browsing I noticed something out of place. In between the rugs and some cleaning supplies sat a tall shelf of toys. They have whole aisles for toys so why in the world would there need to be a random shelf of them in the corner by the rugs?
Of course, we already know why. I was alone this morning as I was browsing, but I could hear the echo of my children's voices in my head. If they had been with me they would have noticed them. Noticed and wanted them. I would not have browsed in peace.
Maybe it was a simple coincidence but I doubt it. They weren't sitting next to the deodorant where you grab the kind you like and move on. Nope. Right there on a big 'ol shelf where Mom has to linger a while to make up her mind. Even if it is a mistake, it's an irritating one.
I have a point to all this ranting. I'm not just talking about toy placement to whine about something that didn't really affect me at all.I really like shopping there and the people are always nice, that's why I'm only showing the cute rugs. So here's what I'm getting at.
It reminded me of how the enemy works. The devil knows how to push our buttons and he will try to make something we don't really want look exceedingly attractive.
But I want to talk about the good news. The good news is that God promises us that if we resist the devil he as to flee. Flee! Not amble away but run. I imagine a cartoon character kicking up dust as he zooms away appearing and disappearing over the hills.
And more good news. Sometimes the product placement isn't sneaky or malicious because it was God's idea in the first place. He uses trials to refine us all the time. I remember something my pastor said once in a sermon. "God is more interested in your character than your comfort."
We're going to see toys in the rug aisle at lot in life. Whether it's something God has allowed the enemy to do or it was His own idea for our best interest, the answer is still the same. If we lean on Him, He will help us. He promises that the temptation will not be impossible to resist and He promises to be with us every step of the way.