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Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church 1610 Carlisle Road, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011 Phone: (717) 737-0439 / Fax: (717) 737-5421 Email: gelc@comcast.net |
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You are Here: Home > Pastor Joel's Corner > Devotion Archives > 03-16-2006 Online Devotions
Devotion for the week of March 16, 2006 Remember the game hide and seek? The person who is “it” counts to twenty, while the other participants find a hiding place. And, then “it” goes looking for the ones who are hiding. In Genesis 3, we have a similar scenario, where Adam and Eve are hiding from God. God is walking through the garden at the time of the evening breeze. An idyllic scene is described. God calls out to Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” And, what are Adam and Eve doing? Hiding. Why? Because they have disobeyed God and have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. In short, they have sinned. In this season of Lent, we become very conscious of our sin. And, the passage in Genesis 3 tells us something about sin—it wants to hide. We, of course, do not want others to know our faults and failings, our addictions, and our dirty little secrets. We do everything possible to hide them from the outside world. We may lie to cover our sins. We may sin under the cover of night. We may hide behind close doors. Someone once said, “Truly, we are only ourselves when we are alone.” Sin wants to hide and sin desires to separate us from God and one another. When Adam and Eve sin, they hide from God. They separate themselves from God. Furthermore, Adam and Eve do a lot of blaming when the jig is finally up, which further isolates them. But, God is a good and gracious God. God seeks to restore our relationship. He is the one to whom we can bring our sins that we need not be alone and in hiding anymore. It is a terrible thing to always be hiding and to be alone, and not living and in relationship. Lent is a time to return to the Lord and to live. Let us pray…Merciful God, we know that from you no secrets are hid. To you, the darkness is as day. Help us to walk in the light of truth and love. Empower us to confess and change our ways. In Christ, we pray…Amen. |