Friday, we ended with Adam giving the woman the name Eve and with the reminder that their failure did not erase who they were.The next thing God does is easy to overlook.Adam and Eve had tried to cover themselves with leaves. They knew something had changed, they felt ashamed, and they tried to fix the problem themselves.But their covering was not enough.So, God made clothing for them.Genesis does not tell us what kind of animal the clothing came from or describe its death. But clothing made from animal skins means an animal’s life had to be taken.This is the first time in Scripture that something dies to cover human shame.Adam and Eve used leaves.God provided something better.Their leaves represent what we still try to do with our own sin and shame. We hide, make excuses, blame someone else, or try to do enough good things to make up for what we have done.We try to create our own covering.But leaves could not repair Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. They could not undo their sin or remove their shame.Something else had to provide the covering.This becomes an early picture of something we will see throughout Scripture.Later, animals will be sacrificed at the tabernacle and Temple as the people seek forgiveness and restoration with God. Those sacrifices will have to be repeated again and again.Another animal.Another sacrifice.Another reminder that sin brings death and that humanity cannot cover itself.All this points forward to Jesus.When Jesus dies on the cross, He does not bring another animal to be sacrificed. Unlike the sacrifices that had to be repeated, He is the ultimate sacrifice for eternity.From the garden to the Temple to the cross, God provides the covering for our sin and shame that we cannot provide ourselves.

After the fall, something interesting happens.Up to this point, Genesis keeps referring to “the man” and “the woman.” But in Genesis 3:20, Adam gives the woman a name:Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.Her name is now connected to what she will do.And that feels very familiar to the way we still see people today.We tend to identify people by what they do.She’s an athlete.He’s the smart kid.She’s the funny one.He’s the pastor.She’s the successful one.He’s the screw-up.We put labels on people based on their job, reputation, talents, failures, or what they can produce.But that is not how God first introduces humanity.Before Adam or Eve had accomplished anything, before they had a job title, before they had succeeded or failed, God had already said they were made in His image.Their value came from who they were, not what they did.That is an important difference.We usually look at each other from the outside in. We see what someone does, what they are good at, what they have messed up, or what they can offer us.God sees us from the inside out.He sees a person made in His image.And this matters even more after Genesis 3, because now Adam and Eve have failed in a pretty spectacular way. But God does not stop seeing them as His creation. He still comes looking for them. He still speaks to them. He still cares for them.Their failure changes a lot, but it does not erase who they are.That is something we need to remember about ourselves and about other people.What you do matters, but it is not the deepest truth about who you are.God sees you as more than your grades, your sport, your job, your popularity, your mistakes, or your success.And if God sees people that way, we should try to see each other that way too.

In Genesis 3, we still see “the man” and “the woman.” The woman has not even been given the name Eve yet. At this point, the story is still focused more on who they are in relation to God and each other than on their individual names.God has created a place for them to live with Him in harmony. He has given them everything they need, along with one boundary.Then the serpent enters the story and asks one question:Can you really trust God?The serpent does not start by telling them to completely reject God. He starts by making them question the story God has given them.Did God really say that?Is God holding something back from you?Wouldn’t life be better if you decided for yourself what is good?We hear the phrase “trust the process” all the time. Genesis 3 is almost like God saying, “Trust the story.”Trust that I created you.Trust that I know what is good.Trust that the boundaries I have given you are there for a reason.Trust that you do not have to understand everything in order to trust Me.But the man and woman decide they do not trust the story anymore. They believe they can write a better one for themselves.And that is really what sin looks like throughout Scripture.It is not always someone saying, “I do not believe in God.”A lot of the time it is someone saying, “I know what God said, but I think my way will work better.”Adam and the woman do this in the garden. Israel will do this over and over again in the wilderness. Kings will do the same later in the Old Testament. The disciples will struggle with it. And we still do as well.God says one thing, but we look at our circumstances and think:I know, but what if God is wrong about this?What if His way doesn't work for me?What if I need to take control myself?Genesis 3 shows us where that leads.The harmony God created begins to break. The man and woman hide from God. They blame each other. Their relationship with God, with each other, and with creation becomes fractured.They wanted control of the story, but instead they broke the world they had been given.And that becomes one of the major themes of the entire Bible:Will God’s people trust the story He is writing, or will they try to write their own?