After Adam and Eve sinned they heard God in the garden. Instead of greeting their Creator and enjoying perfect fellowship, they hid. They hid from God by running away. They hid their bodies with awkward, itchy, fig-leaf garments. They hid their thoughts by evading God’s questions. They could not recognize God’s image in themselves. They cloaked themselves and could not recognize each other. Worst of all, they could not even recognize God’s love.
Of course, none of their hiding fooled God. He knew where to find Adam and Eve. He still knew them. He still loved them. Even when they could not recognize themselves, God recognized them perfectly.
Charlotte Elliott wrote the well known hymn Just As I Am, Without One Plea. One evening she struggled with the reality of her spiritual life. Her inner struggle continued the next day, so she focused on the “great certainties” of her salvation, set pen to paper, and recorded what she called “the formulae of her faith.” Consider these words:
Just as I am, thy love unknown
hath broken every barrier down;
now, to be thine, yea thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
God recognized Adam and Eve just as they were. He recognized Charlotte Elliott just as she was. He recognizes you and me, too, just as you are, and just as I am.
Take comfort in knowing that today and every day, God recognizes you on your journey.
Follow the Path!
CARadke
[Use with Together in Hiding, but All Alone, day 10 of A Labyrinth Pilgrimage]