New Clothes for A New Day

Good Morning! I hope this morning finds you excited about opportunities that lie ahead. We serve an awesome God, full of grace and mercy, and that is what I want to share with you today. If you are anything like me, you are well aware of the failures of your past. The weight of these failures can seem overwhelming at times. However, I have come to discover the truth that God’s grace and mercy are truly sufficient to not only sustain me, but also to restore and propel me. When this truth becomes a reality in your life, the freedom becomes amazing. I want you to take a few moments and reflect on the fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3. While the fall is tragic, what takes place next is remarkable. Scripture tells us that after Adam and Eve sinned, God went looking for the man and his wife (Gen. 3:8). Even before Adam and Eve fully understood the impact of their actions, or their need for restoration, God began to move.

Frederick Buechner notes, God asked Adam and Eve two penetrating questions after their first act of disobedience: “Where are you?” and “What is this you have done?” Therapists, he remarks, have been asking the same questions ever since. “Where are you?” exposes the present reality. They are hiding, naked, ravaged by never-before-known feelings of guilt and shame. “What is this you have done?” exposes the past. In his encounter with Adam and Eve, God sets forth the consequences of their behavior and then provides clothing to equip them for the new state they have brought about. “They can’t go back, but they can go forward clothed in a new way,” says Buechner – the result any good therapist hopes to accomplish (Philip Yancey, Prayer, p. 32).

We know that Adam and Eve knew something had change as a result of their actions. They felt the shame of their nakedness, and for the first time they felt the need or desire to be separated from God (Gen. 3:10). But God, being rich in mercy (Eph. 2:4), pursued them. He did not abandon them to the consequences of their own actions. Rather, He pursued them to restore them and to prepare them for what laid ahead. You might be reading this and thinking, “Why can’t God move in my life the way He did for Adam and Eve?” “I feel abandon.” “I feel overwhelmed.” Well, the fact of the matter is that He already has. Romans 5:8 states:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (NASU).

What Paul is telling us is that God moved in each of our lives before we recognized our need or desired His involvement. God took the initiative. God sought us out with the desire of restoring us. God’s message is, “I know your past, now let me show you your future.” We cannot undo the past, but through His grace and mercy, we can be re-equipped for a new life; a life that can begin today. Submitting ourselves to His retooling is what will allow us to be successful. Some of you, today, are caught up in a cosmic game of hide and seek. Some may be hidden, hoping to never be found. Others may have been hidden for so long that they aren’t certain anybody is still looking. Whatever your case may be, I encourage you to reveal yourself. Stand up and shout to God, “HERE I AM!” Be found! Be restored! Today is a new day, and the God of the universe is prepared to give you a new set of clothes for what lies ahead!