Proper Clothing

Does God take you to passages of scripture so often that you swear that there is nothing more to be gleaned from them? I must admit that I cringe every time someone goes to Psalm 1. It has been a recurring theme in Bible studies, Sunday school, visiting ministers who don't realize that we seem to have beaten the passage to death over the past 10 years.

And then there is Genesis 1-3. Adam and Eve. Creation. Yah, yah, yah. Here we go again, 66 books and we are back here AGAIN. If you think this blogger is some spiritual giant, think again. She is a sinner saved by grace and still rebellious as all get out. What more could God say that He hasn't already said through this passage of scripture? More than I want to hear...

You see, this is where the very first mention of sewing takes place. Adam and Eve “sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings (aprons, coverings, around their hips). Gen. 3:7 Interesting. God had created everything but clothes. And when Adam and Eve figured out that they “needed” them to cover their shame, they chose their own wardrobes. No asking God why they weren't provided to them before now. No asking what they should be wearing. No asking why they suddenly felt they needed clothing. They sacrificed the lives of a few leaves and then hid.

I still do not get why they, the perfect specimen of human bodily form, would suddenly think that their private areas were shameful. God had created them and put them in the garden that way. He would not have created them sinful and let them run around naked if that had been evil. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...and suddenly they thought something God had done was evil...leaving them uncovered. Hmmmm...

I have been studying the book True Woman 101: Divine Design, and there is a point that they keep making that sort of makes me cringe...God chose how to design man and woman and He gave them no choice in the matter. Adam named Eve. Just like any other the other animals, he gave her her name. Not that she was just another animal...she was his completion...made to make him complete, not the other way around.

And God did not let them decide how to clothe themselves, either. He didn't think the whole fig leaf wardrobe was adequate and “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Gen. 3:21 Well. How picky is God? Very. Does He care what we wear? Apparently so. At least He cared about what they wore. Was it because He was going to send them out into the cold, cruel world that they needed skins instead of leaves that would shrivel and dry up? Was it because the leaves weren't covering enough? After all, we women cover more than our bottoms like men do to be considered modest. No, it was because, as my friend Jan says, all scripture points to Christ. Something had to die to cover their sins and ours. In their case, animals had to die to cover their sin, and in all cases, Christ had to die to cover our sins. He had to come in the flesh, be slain, and cover us in His righteousness for God to be able to fellowship with us and us with Him. Because of this covering we can come to Him fully clothed and accepted in His presence. We can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

I always looked at that passage as drawing near when times were hard and things were not going my way. But when do I need mercy and grace? When did Adam and Eve need mercy and grace? It is when we sin. This passage tells us that Jesus is our high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses. Our biggest weakness is that we sin. Everything we do, however we want to look at it, has an element of selfishness and sinfulness to it. We serve God, but often hoping that He will serve us as payback. We forgive others (or not) because we know that God says He can't work with us until we do...so we grudgingly try to obey. I cannot think of a single thing I do that has a totally pure, God-centered, unselfish-to-some-extent motivation. We sin. We are sinful. And we need covered because of that just to appear at the throne for mercy and grace.

The passages I love in scripture tell us over and over that every man will eventually bow before the throne of God in worship of Christ. Some will be covered, but more will not be. We will all come, but not all will find mercy and grace in that day. God chose the covering, and those who reject it will not come boldly, but want to hide from God. Those who still hide from God are still sewing their own fig leaves, hoping to make designer aprons that will cover their shame...and they are still hiding from the God who is calling out their names and offering them the proper clothing that He requires.

Are you covered, my soul? Are you coming dressed in the righteousness of Christ to receive the mercy and grace you need today and every day? And are you the voice of God in this world, calling others to come to the Great Tailor who has the garment that will make them presentable in His sight? May it ever be so!