* Firsts

At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:7-9

It's getting close to deer season. All the hunters I know are making more frequent trips to the deer lease to get ready for the big day. Their days are already booked on the vacation calendar and bragging about how good their jerky recipe is and their deer sausage. They're waiting for the first week of November, the first cold snap, and dreaming about that first deer. They're even buying new camouflage.

Camouflage is big business. Ask Academy or Pro Bass Shops. Do a Google search for 'camouflage clothing' and in less than half-a-second, you get a return of over 1.2 MILLION hits... funny thing about it is that the camouflage may make us harder to see when we're out hunting, but critters have a keen sense of smell. Let them get a whiff of that human flesh and eyeball you or not, they know you're there.

There are a lot of firsts in the Book of Genesis; after all, it's the book of beginnings. Among them - the first ever, completely organic, hand-stitched, his-and-her camouflage outfits. Want one? Back then, it came at the highest price. Perhaps more so than any other. They paid dearly for it...as has every generation since then - always paying the same high cost. The price never goes down, even though the market is glutted with the sin of disobedience and loss of innocence. And no matter how much we try to cover up and camouflage our sin to try to blend in, sin has its own distinct odor.

There's another first in that same chapter and verse of our text for today. The first recorded game of Hide-N-Seek, and God was IT first. Oh, don't kid yourself. He knew exactly where they were. He knew they'd broken the rules. He knew they cheated and He came looking for them anyway... why? Because He loved us first. And although their first ever, completely organic, hand-stitched, his-and-her camouflage outfits were more than either of them could afford, He paid the price with a first of His own. A great price. He paid dearly...

Prayer:

Father,
         Let us always remember that You came looking for us, and not to kill us, not to condemn us, but to love us, and ultimately to redeem us. Help us to never try to camouflage who or what we are, so that we can walk with clean hands and pure hearts before You, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen