Naked before God

The start of the day, the start of the weekend, any beginning, is always a good time for a refreshing, a new opportunity or chance, to get naked so to speak.

Ok hold up Christian people. I am speaking metaphorically. I am just drawing a reference. Follow along and let’s see where this takes us

Let us go back to the beginning - at creation.

When God made man, there was no mention of Him clothing them either with grass or fabric. So in effect, they were naked. Correct?

So how did Adam and Eve know they were naked or without covering on their bodies? When they sinned!

Let’s look at it. Genesis 1:26-28  MSG

“God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.””

Then we go to Genesis 2:21-25 

“God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.”

And Genesis 3:6-7

“When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.”

We know what it means to be naked - literally, it means to be unclothed, without clothes on. 

But we want to use that bold and perhaps uncommon analogy and look at it from a metaphorical and spiritual point of view today.

What does it mean to be naked before God? Is that a good or a bad thing? When do we find ourselves naked before God and what can we do about it?

When we talk about being "naked before God", it really means that we have found ourselves in a position where we are bare and empty and literally between a rock and a hard place. Nothing is happening for us, no one can help us. It’s all backward and downward. No forward or upward movement in sight. 

Very often this is a place we find ourselves in when we have wasted our years living a sinful lifestyle and then tragedy strikes, leaving you broke, on your sick bed, friendless, abandoned by your family and left by society by the wayside.

Circumstances of life just have a way of revealing our weaknesses and bringing us to a place of recognizing our need for God's help and grace. 

And so even in your downfall, you remember that song your grandmother used to sing about a God who created the heavens and the earth. A God who performed miracles - He fed the hungry, provided shelter for the homeless, healed the sick, cast out demons and ministered to the souls of everyone who would listen. 

Just as Adam and Eve realized their nakedness after disobeying God, we too, especially when we hear a touching sermon and we cry out as we recognize our wretchedness, and most certainly that He allows us to come into His Holy presence. 

This is when we can identify with the prophet in Isaiah 6:5

““Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.””

That’s from the NIV

Is finding yourself in a state of being naked before God a good thing? 

I would say most certainly it is. Because it means that we would have recognised our nothingness and recognised also that we can’t hide from God.  At this point, everybody who asks and didn’t ask, knows that you lost all your money, your wife or your husband, your job and your dignity.

We are reminded in Hebrews 4:12-13 “God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one can resist God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.”

So when we become naked before God. It’s an opportunity for redemption, another chance for us to seek God’s grace and forgiveness. 

When we become naked before God, we come to the point where we stretch for His Hands of mercy that are outstretched to us. We are called to repentance and we turn from our wicked ways. We are restored to a much better place, from rags to riches, out of the pig pen and back to our Father’s House feasting at His table. 

When we become naked before God we receive a new lease on life where we too can sing: Great change since I been born. Things I used to do I don't do them no more. Lies I used to tell I don't tell them no more. People I used to hate I don't hate them no more. Roads I used to walk I don't walk there no more. A new song been sung since I been born. Been a great change since I been born.

Spiritual growth and transformation! No shame, no guilt, because Jesus paid it all. Hallelujah.

No need to hide anymore, as Adam did in Genesis 3:10, glory to God. 

Colossians 2:13-14 NIV says “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

We thank God for the Holy Spirit that never leaves us. So even when we are down to rock bottom, we can still hear His Voice beckoning us to recognise our need for God's righteousness.

Because that is indeed the purpose of the Word of God - to expose our true nature and lead us to self-awareness.

John 16:8 “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:”

So here we would have been at some point in our lives. Maybe some persons are still in that diseased and broken state right now, there’s a call for you to come, "naked before God".

For we must all acknowledge our complete vulnerability before Him. 

While it can be uncomfortable, coming naked before God is an opportunity for us to grow, it’s an opportunity for repentance, and an opportunity to deepen our relationship with God. 

You may feel naked right now because you’re in a loveless marriage, you’ve been out of work for months or years and the going gets really tough sometimes paying those bills. You might feel naked right now as you visit doctor after doctor and take more and more medication.

I want to encourage all of us to ask God, as the Psalmist said in Psalm 139:23-24 to “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

I trust we would all be aware of our nakedness before God today and even be more mindful of our responsibility to be great ambassadors of His. 

aub - 24June24

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