The Pursuer

They were exposed and afraid as they heard Him coming in the midst of the garden. Once perfect, and now with shame. It was the day they died spiritually.

If you didn't guess yet, this is the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.

As most know, following their disobedience was their overwhelming shame and consequent hiding due to their being naked. They had sinned and they felt it. With that, they instantly began to fear the Lord.

The greatest irony is that in the moment of our salvation, we acknowledged our sinfulness and admitted the incurable flaw within us. We lay down all that we are and speak our need for God, for His redemption and grace. However, once past this point, most Christian's forget that all of the rest of life is returning to the Gospel - the fact that we need God's grace everyday and not just the day we began our relationship with Him.

How many times do Christian's run away from God in their sin rather than going straight to Him?

How many times do Christian's think that they need to fix themselves up, that now it is their responsibility to make up for their constant faults?

Living that mindset causes the inevitable. Perhaps you've heard the common phrase:
"If you feel far from God, who moved?"
The obvious answer is that the person did.

Like Adam and Eve, in the middle of sin and struggle, we hide, we run, we disconnect.
Often times due to believing the lie that perhaps God doesn't truly love us, that He hasn't truly forgiven us fully, or that we need to better ourselves first.

Let's return to the Genesis story and see what happened next.
Adam and Eve had decided to hide, shortly after there was the sound of someone coming. It was Him. God. "Where are you?" he called out.

Did you catch that?

He came looking for them.

He pursued them in the midst of their sin.

He pursues us in the midst of our sin. I've been learning this recently and I know so often I forget, so often we forget. God knows our weaknesses, He understands our life-long battle with sin.

God never left Adam and Eve despite their sin.

And God will never leave you despite your sin, in fact, He is pursuing you. Stop running.

Matthew 18:12-14
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."