Right after Adam and Eve committed the first sin of mankind, they heard the Lord coming. Knowing that they had directly disobeyed the Lord, the hid from Him, not wanting Him to see them. They claimed it was because of their nakedness, but truth of the matter is that they knew that their sin would cause a rift in their relationship with God, that God would be angry with them. Instead of apologizing to the Lord and finding out what they could do to make it right, they hid from Him. They tried to avoid Him. Even when they had been found out, they tried to place the blame elsewhere instead of just being up front with Him.

Many times we can fall into the same trap that Adam and Eve did. When we fall into sin, the last thing we want to do is pray to the Lord. We shun the Bible, knowing that the words in there will condemn us. Our guilt puts up a shroud between us and God, and instead of coming to Him and asking forgiveness, we do our best to hide from Him and His righteousness. It can be very scary to try to re-open that relationship with God. Instead we find ourselves running away from Him.

This of course makes coming back to the Lord even more difficult. Often times when we run from Him we find ourselves running straight back into sin. The more sin we encounter, the more distance we want between us and God. Instead we need to come to Him immediately. He loves us, and remembers that we are but dust, and is willing to forgive us and re-establish the relationship if we would only ask Him to. It is only our pride and fear that can keep us from the Lord’s forgiveness. If we go to Him truly penitent and asking for forgiveness, He will forgive us.