Devotional: No Cover-up: Genesis 3:7-11

“And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat” (Gen. 3:11, NASB)?

Former president Richard M. Nixon resigned from the office of president of the United States of America on August 9, 1974. It is believed that if he had not resigned he would have been impeached by the House of Representatives and removed from office by trial in the Senate. The president’s public support was eroding because of his complicity in the cover-up in the Watergate scandal. Nixon had not been an active participant in the Watergate activities, but he had participated in trying to keep the truth from being known. There is a principle in both Scripture and the constitution that forbid anyone from taking part in the cover-up of a crime.

Our text today records the first case of an attempted cover-up that is known in human history. God placed the man and the woman in the garden. God told them that they were at liberty to eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the one in the middle of the garden. The serpent (devil) talked with the woman and the couple was convinced that they would not die if they ate the fruit from the tree that God had told them not to. After they had eaten the fruit their eyes were opened. They recognized their guilt. They were ashamed. They took fig leaves to cover their nakedness.

The man and the woman attempted to cover up their wrong doing. They tried to hide from God. They tried to keep God from knowing what they had done. However, we cannot hide from God. We cannot cover up our guilt. God knows where we are, and we can be sure that He is coming to call us out from our hiding place. We cannot cover up what we have done. We do not have to tell God. We do not necessarily need to tell God what we have done. He already knows. “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat” (v. 11)?

Since we cannot hide from God, and since we cannot cover up our wrong doings, what should we do? Must we just accept a fateful end? Will God come to destroy us? Will God refuse to have relationship with us forever? No. If God had been through with the man and the woman He would have not come looking for them. He would not have called them out. Rather than destroying them, God drove them from the garden. The seed of the woman (Jesus) would come. He would crush the head of the serpent. Therefore, we can say as the scriptures say: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous” (1 Jn. 1:9, NASB). “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1).

We can be forgiven of our sins, but let us be sure that we cannot cover up our sins.

Prayer: Lord we confess our sins and we trust you to forgive us. Amen.