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

My husband and I debate important things often, one of which is this essential question: which is the best Lord of the Rings movie? You probably fall into one of two camps: either you have a strong opinion on this, or you couldn't care less! (If you're in the latter camp, hang with me!)

I think the reason we can go 'round and 'round on this debate is that all aspects of a story have their special purposes, right? We love endings for the sweetness of resolution our souls crave, and we love the messy middle for how it resonates with the complexities of our real lives. Beginnings, however, often get forgotten on lists of favorite moments. But I'll argue for the Fellowship of the Ring as best any day of the week, because any story-teller knows that going back to the beginning is where the best moments of a story are founded.

God's story is no different, and so today we find ourselves back in the Garden, where the best moments of Scripture are rooted. In today's verse, Genesis 3:10, Adam explains his actions to God after the Fall, that first moment when Adam and Even rebel against God's best for them and instead choose their own way. These three simple phrases not only narrate Adam's experience, but cast a model for humans' repeated "falls" throughout Scripture and in our own lives thousands of years later.

Let's break it down: When God asks in verse 9, where are you?, Adam replies...

• I heard you in the garden

• I was afraid because I was naked

• So I hid

And we could all say the same at some point in our lives. In these simple terms, Adam expresses the aspect of the gospel we're studying this week: We are separated from God. Thankfully though, Adam's predicament is only the beginning of God's grand story. The messy middle and the end are coming, but this beginning moment can teach us about God's good news for our lives today and illuminate a simple avenue through which we can invite our non-believing friends to say yes to Jesus so they too can experience the sweet ending.

1. I heard you in the garden. Adam and Eve experienced perfect community with God in the Garden of Eden, but once shame enters their lives after their choice to rebel against God, Adam and Eve's shared experience of God's closeness becomes tarnished. Instead of experiencing his presence as a blessing, all they can see is their great lack. This is the first cost of sin over our lives - separation from God in the form of realizing our lack in the face of a Holy God. It's not so much that sin kicks us out of the garden - although that is a consequence (Gen. 3:23) - it's that sin demolishes our compatibility to occupy God's presence. Holiness, by definition, is uncompromising, and our awareness of this incompatibility - shame - is the first thing that pushes space between us and God.

2. I was afraid because I was naked. Adam's awareness of his lack leads him to experience fear of God, and where there is fear of someone, there cannot be perfect unity (1 John 4:18). Fear of punishment pushes the chasm between us and God wider.

3. So I hid. Adam's shame and fear lead him to hide from God, to create even more distance between himself and God. This is the final distance sin creates between us and God. It blinds us to the truth that restored closeness with God is what we actually need, and instead drives us to create even more distance between us and God because of our shame-induced fear.

It's a devastating cycle, right? This is the continuum our friends far from God are caught in: aware of their sin, instead of drawing close to our Restorer, they push further and further away, under an illusion as old as time - that distancing ourselves from God is the safest option in the face of his holiness and our great lack. But here is the good news - both for us as we sin and are tempted toward creating that chasm, and for our non-believing friends who are locked in the cycle of pushing God further and further away - God does not contribute to pushing us further away; he persistently draws us back, closer to himself.

For Adam and Eve, consequences of sin exist, but God clothes them and promises a way to draw them back again (Gen. 3:15, 21). In the Old Testament, he gives the Law and sacrificial system to allow his people to draw near in a limited, temporary way. In sending Jesus, he demolishes the once-impossible barrier the discrepancy between our sin and his holiness had created. And in overwhelming kindness, he sends the Holy Spirit, restoring the opportunity for his people to experience his direct, constant, and continual presence right now. Finally, when God restores the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21:3-4), we will experience a restoration of "garden living" that our souls were designed and truly long for. Where sin creates chasms, our Father God continually draws us near. All praise to him!

Father God, thank you for your faithfulness, from Adam to me, to close the chasm my sin creates. Open my eyes for opportunities to share this great hope with my friends who don't know you: that they don't have to push you further away, because you're always working to draw us back to you. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.