Who Told You That You Were Naked?

When I was about eight years old, I was entered into a Pinewood Derby contest that was being held at our church. On one Saturday morning, my dad and I planned to model and paint the car.

I remember waiting in our garage as I envisioned the block of balsa wood being painted bright red, tearing down the track and beating all of the other contestants. It was going to be glorious!

I do not remember anything about race day, but I do remember that Saturday morning. After waiting what seemed like forever, I grew impatient and decided to begin working on the car myself. I grabbed a screwdriver and began to open the can of paint, and the next thing I knew, there was bright red paint all over me and the garage floor.

Of course, in that moment I did what any eight-year-old boy would do; I ran and hid. I found a place in the outside corner of our home behind the garbage pails and hoped beyond hope that I would not be found.

I'm sure I was not there long when I heard my dad call my name. Hearing this, I sank lower behind the garbage cans. To no avail, my dad simply followed the paint trail and once again called my name, and that's when, with my head hung low, I gave up my position and came out from my hiding in my red-stained clothes.

It is a funny story now, and I remember my dad being quite generous in his response to my childlike impatience. He graciously understood that the voice in my head was telling me not to wait, but to move ahead with the project

The Question Behind the Question

In the book of Genesis, we see an account of Adam and Eve succumbing to voices and then, like my eight-year-old self, hiding.

We know from the text that God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden. The garden was a paradise where they roamed freely and enjoyed unencumbered fellowship with God. The only thing that was forbidden was eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Well, we know how that ended, and mankind has been reaping the consequences ever since.

In the third chapter of Genesis, we see God in the garden, where he asks Adam, "Where are you?"

Adam does not exactly answer God's question. Instead, he replied by saying, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

God then asks a second question. "Who told you that you were naked?"

It is a fascinating exchange because we know that God, who is all-knowing, already knew where Adam was, and he knew that he and Eve had eaten from the tree.

A few weeks ago, over breakfast, a friend and I discussed this passage, and he shared this insight.

God was not asking Adam these questions because He needed the information. God was asking Adam something far deeper.

What God was asking is . . . Whom have you been listening to?

Up to that moment, Adam and Eve had heard one voice, and that was the voice of God who made them and called them good.

Then, as we see in the third chapter of Genesis, another voice slithered in with a simple question: "Did God really say...?"

They listened to that voice, and in a moment, everything changed.

The Voices Are Louder Than Ever

Adam and Eve at that time had one competing voice; today, we have thousands.

Social media tells us we are not doing enough.

The news tells us to be afraid.

Culture tells us to follow our hearts.

Our inner critic and shame tell us we will never measure up.

And some of the people closest to us, often with good intentions, speak words that pull us away from truth.

And here is the potential problem. If we are not grounded in the truth of God's word, we lose the ability to decipher the various voices. We are helpless to distinguish the difference between a truth and a lie, and we start to believe the lies.

We start to believe that we are failures. That we are on our own. That our worth is tied to our performance. That God is holding out on us. We start believing our own press, and the downward spiral continues.

The voices we listen to are never neutral. They will either build us up in truth or slowly lead us astray. This is why I believe Proverbs focuses so much on the importance of wisdom. Because without it, we are defenseless.

One Voice Worth Following

Speaking of being defenseless, it is no surprise that many times in Scripture we are called sheep.

If you know anything about sheep, they have no natural defense against predators except to run, and even their best sprint is useless. On top of that, sheep have never had a reputation of being all that intelligent. (The analogy of us as sheep should humble us all).

This is why sheep need a shepherd.

In John's Gospel, we see that Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd, and He says this about His sheep, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me"

What is fascinating about sheep is how attuned they are to the voice of their shepherd.

In ancient days, shepherds would corral multiple herds of sheep in a pen overnight as a way to protect them from predators. As expected, once inside the pen, the herds would mingle and become one giant flock. When it was time to bring the sheep out of the pen, the shepherd would call out to his sheep.

Because of their extraordinary auditory tuning, only those sheep that belonged to that shepherd would see their way to the gate and follow their shepherd out. The other sheep that belonged to other shepherds would ignore the sound they did not recognize and stay in the pen until their shepherd called them out.

Sheep have a keen sense of what voice they should follow, and we need to have the same selective hearing.

Our Shepherd's voice says, "My grace is sufficient for you", while the counterfeit tells us that we are condemned. Our Shepherd's voice tells us that through Christ we can live an abundant life if we humble ourselves and submit to Him. The false shepherd tells us that we are our own God.

The voice we follow will make all the difference, as it impacts every facet of our lives.

Audit Your Inputs

So how do we do this practically?

Paul tells us in Romans that we are "Not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Renewal does not happen by accident. It happens when we deliberately tune our ears to God's Word over every other voice clamoring for our attention. And the only way this can be done is to consistently spend time in it.

Renewal is also something we need to do daily.

Research shows that on average, each of us is exposed to 4,000 - 10,000 messages per day. That is a whole lot of voices that are vying for our attention, which underscores the importance of renewal or daily tuning of our ears to God and His Truth.

Your Challenge This Week

I believe that God is still asking the same question He asked Adam.

Who told you you were naked?

Who told you that you are not enough? Who told you that you have to hide? Who told you that your past disqualifies you?

WHAT VOICE ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

This week, pay attention to the voices you let in. Then hold each one up against the truth of Scripture.

If it does not line up with what God says, it is time to stop listening.

Running the race with you,

Carlos

This edition was first published in The Life Design Newsletter on LinkedIn.