Genesis 3:7-11 (NKJV)

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Then the LORD God called to Adam man and said to him, “Where are you?”

So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

What’s wrong with being naked?

Nothing; the Bible doesn’t say that their fear was rational. Remember, before the fall they weren’t afraid of anything – not even a talking snake.

Now, all of a sudden, they see good and evil all around them. That creates a kind of sensory overload and they’re overwhelmed by it all. Before, they weren’t afraid of anything; now everything is scary.

So they’re afraid of being naked, even though they already had covered themselves. Then again, if there are no-see-ums in the garden, maybe their fear isn’t so crazy after all.

Of course, there’s another evil that they’re suddenly aware of – their own. They now have a good reason to hide from God.

Adam’s explanation as to why they were hiding isn’t the whole truth.

And his “explanations” are about to get worse.

Never stop praying for persecuted Christians around the world. Many attacks are so wicked that they feel supernatural.

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2040755,00.html

It’s chilling to see evil this pure acting in so many places and in so many ways. This is hard for us to grasp, living as we do in a free country. Americans are so blessed; it’s easy for us to be followers of Christ.

We should thank God for our freedoms, but we should pray harder for the Christians who aren’t so blessed.

If you put time into this, don’t be surprised if you find yourself asking God why He allows such terrible persecution. That’s natural and acceptable.

Just keep praying.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies