Hiding From God

Because God is love (1 John 4:8), He would not create human “robots.” Love embraces choice. To be able to love, Adam and Eve had to be created with free will; otherwise, love, true love, would be impossible for them to give.

Thus, Adam and Eve had the freedom to obey or disobey their Creator. The reality of this free choice was depicted in the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (see Gen. 2:15–17). Why warn them against eating from it unless they had the freedom to do so in the first place?

“Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God made them free moral agents, capable of appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character and the justice of His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to withhold obedience. They were to enjoy communion with God and with holy angels. . . . Without freedom of choice, his obedience would not have been voluntary, but forced.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 48, 49.

Genesis 3 depicts an awful scene—the fall of Adam and Eve. After the epic conversation between the serpent (Satan) and Eve, our first parents were tempted to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which they were forbidden to do. Satan used the power of words, emotions, and pleasurable enticements to convince Eve, who then convinced Adam, to go against God’s command. Eve noted that the tree was “good for food,” “pleasant to the eyes,” and “desirable to make one wise” (Gen. 3:6, NKJV). The promise of Satan that they would be “ ‘like God, knowing good and evil’ ” (Gen. 3:5, NKJV), sounded irresistible.

In reality, Satan’s discourse was riddled with error. Satan hid from them the consequences of their disobedience. After they disobeyed God, their eyes were immediately “opened,” and they saw that they were “naked.” God’s “garment” of light and glory (Ps. 104:1, 2), which reflected the divine “image,” was gone. They were no longer covered by that which God had provided for them. No wonder Adam and Eve hid themselves from their Creator (as if it were really possible to hide from God). They attempted to hide because sin makes us feel guilty and, in our guilt, we want to flee from the presence of God.

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

Man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well-balanced mind. He was perfect in his being, and in harmony with God. His thoughts were pure, his aims holy. But through disobedience, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. His nature became so weakened through transgression that it was impossible for him, in his own strength, to resist the power of evil. He was made captive by Satan, and would have remained so forever had not God specially interposed. It was the tempter’s purpose to thwart the divine plan in man’s creation, and fill the earth with woe and desolation. And he would point to all this evil as the result of God’s work in creating man.
In his sinless state, man held joyful communion with Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” But after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness, and he sought to hide from the presence of God. Such is still the condition of the unrenewed heart. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no joy in communion with Him. The sinner could not be happy in God’s presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings. Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him. The spirit of unselfish love that reigns there—every heart responding to the heart of Infinite Love—would touch no answering chord in his soul. His thoughts, his interests, his motives, would be alien to those that actuate the sinless dwellers there. He would be a discordant note in the melody of heaven.—Steps to Christ, p. 17.

God invites us to come to Him with our burden of guilt and our heart sorrows. Sin fills us with fear of God. When we have sinned we try to hide ourselves from Him. But whatever our sin, God bids us come unto Him through Jesus Christ. It is only by taking our sins to God that we can be freed from them. Cain, under the rebuke of God, acknowledged his guilt in killing Abel, but he fled away from God, as if he could thus escape from his sin. Had he fled to God with his burden of guilt he would have been forgiven. The prodigal son, realizing his guilt and wretchedness, said, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18). He confessed his sin and was taken back to his father’s heart.
If we would offer acceptable prayer, there is a work to be done in confessing our sins to one another. If I have sinned against my neighbor in word or action I should make confession to him. If he has wronged me he should confess to me. So far as is possible the one who has wronged another is to make restitution. Then in contrition he is to confess the sin to God, whose law has been transgressed. In sinning against our brother, we sin against God, and we must seek pardon from Him. Whatever our sin, if we but repent and believe in the atoning blood of Christ we shall be pardoned. . . . We have only one channel of approach to God. Our prayers can come to Him through one name only—that of the Lord Jesus, our advocate.—That I May Know Him, p. 260.