“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (3:6–7). It’s a significant choice as it foreshadows what happened next.Īfter they disobeyed God in Genesis 3, they felt shame for the first time. They felt no fear, no hunger, no anxiety, no thirst, no loneliness, no lack. The biblical writer could have used a variety of words to describe what Adam and Eve did not feel. The writer of Genesis wrote about Adam and Eve on the dawn of their creation, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25). Where did shame come from? It came from the Garden in Genesis 3. Whether it attacks a curly-headed first-grader sitting at her desk, or an eighty-year-old woman sitting in a church pew with her friends, shame is a universal destroyer of destinies, dignity, and callings. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I felt I was wrong. Shame wrapped its talons around my neck and squeezed. I was sure it couldn’t be as bad as mine. Never once did I wonder what went on in anyone else’s home. Maybe no one else could smell it, but I sure did. The shame of what I’d seen and heard clung to me like the stink of a Friday night fish fry. Nevertheless, I was expected to put on my school clothes, brush my hair, eat my cereal, brush my teeth, and sit in class with my little friends as if nothing had happened the night before. The next morning, I awoke to the aftermath of the night’s tirade-Mom’s black eye, Dad’s crying remorse, furniture tossed and broken-and those bad words bouncing around my little-girl head. I didn’t know what some of them meant, but I did know how they made me feel. I remember as a little girl, hiding under the covers of my bed, trying to shut out my parents’ yelling and screaming in the next room. I’m here to today to tell you words God wants you to hear: “Shame off you!” Has anyone ever scolded you with the words, “Shame on you”? If they have…don’t receive it.
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