Fearless DevotionalSample

## "I Was Naked; So I Hid" How silly for Adam and Eve to hide because they were naked. They’d been naked all along! From their very first breath, God had seen their nakedness. He could have made them fully clothed, but He chose to create them bare. It goes to show that God never intended for us to be hidden or separated from Him in any way. Not much has changed since the beginning of time. Just like Adam and Eve, it’s our instinct to hide. We’re afraid to expose our true humanity because we gobbled up the lie of the enemy that says people wouldn’t love us if they really knew us. It’s that very fear of rejection that drives us to hide the things we don’t like about ourselves. Every day we cover our faces with makeup, hiding our wrinkles and our acne. We do the same thing with social media, presenting only our best parts to the world. We try to cover up the ugly, shameful things, hoping to never expose them to anyone, not even to God. We don’t want anyone to see the pockmarks on our soul because they’re too messy, too broken, too needy. Just like Adam and Eve, we do all of this in vain. God sees the bereft nakedness of our flawed humanity, but He never flinches. He knows our nakedness, and yet He never counts it against us. He knows that we lie, that we steal, that we lust and covet. He knows everything about us. The Bible says He’s familiar with all of our ways. (Psalm 139) But the good news is that He doesn’t love us in spite of our nakedness—He loves us because of it. It’s how He created us. We don’t have to hide from Him. ## Reflect Fear of rejection drives us to hide the things we don’t like about ourselves. But God sees the nakedness of our flawed humanity and loves us all the more. We don’t have to hide from Him. ## Respond 1. Is there something you try to hide about yourself? Maybe it’s your figure? Or maybe your gray hair? The enemy says we won’t be accepted as we are. Out of fear we hide, which separates us from God and others. It’s time to stop accepting the lies of the enemy and being deceived! God does not want us to live our life in hiding. Review the following verses and use them to combat the lies that drive you to hide things about yourself.