Genesis 3:7c, 8b …they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons… and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God…

When I was a small child we would play hide and go seek. If you did a really good job of hiding and the seeker could not find you, they would call out “Ollie, Ollie Oxen Free!” I never really gave it much thought as to why this term was used to signal that it was OK to come out from hiding. Well not until last night.

Once my older brother wanted to play with friends without his little brother tagging along. He asked me to play hide and seek and when I went to hide, he didn’t come looking for me. After a long time I realized he had gone elsewhere. It isn’t much fun to hide and no one is looking for you.

This gets us to today’s verses. Adam and Eve’s effort to cover their nakedness was woefully inadequate. They still felt shame and hid themselves. They knew their own efforts to restore righteousness was not getting the job done. This is the nature of fallen mankind. They hide themselves in the forest of shame. They hide behind pride, intellect or knowledge. They hide behind false religions, or misapplied beliefs.. They hide behind work, alcohol, drugs, lust and a long list of things that they place between themselves the face of God.

It isn’t fun when no one is looking for you. This is the great lie of Satan, that God isn’t looking for you. The truth is that God is seeking you. God is crying out “Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free!” How does that sound? A lot like John 3:16 to tell you the truth. That “Oxen Free” is the sacrifice Christ made for your sins.

What are you hiding behind?

Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

I remember the first time I saw abstract art. I didn’t know what to make of it. People would stare and cock their heads to one side and say “Hmmm!” Some were challenged to define this new media. Suddenly everyone had an opinion.

You could never be put down for what you saw in abstract art, after all, it was designed to invoke imagination. The truth of the art was to be found in the viewer, in how it touched or moved the viewer. No one was wrong, everyone had a right to their own opinion.

Unbelievers scoff at the idea of absolute truths. It offends their sensibilities. It denies them of their right to free thought. It calls in to question their ability to judge. Most people I have met who take this line of reasoning in reality do not understand truth.

Truth is. It does not change because of your understanding, agreement, awareness or presence. Does that sound vaguely familiar to those of you who read scripture?

Malachi 3:6a For I am the Lord, I change not;

To know the truth one must come to know the Lord who declared “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. Without Christ, life is but abstract art, and everyone has an opinion.