“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away….I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity (anymore). I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32: 3 and 5

This is a word for someone today. As I was reading the Psalms of King David, I came to Chapter 32. David is drowning in some form of sorrow and iniquity, and when he speaks of keeping silent and wasting away I was taken to times in my own life when I could relate. We all have friends, family and acquaintances that will come around, be talkative and share details about their day, and then suddenly they become distant, quiet and unseen for long periods of time. It becomes obvious that this person is going through some form of trial that involves iniquity (sin). Iniquity takes them down a slippery, steep hill of guilt, shame and internal battles. 

In this internal battle, they close themselves off from those around them that love them. Those that love this person can see the battle, they know this person is dealing with something. It is not hidden even though the one going through it feels that in their hiding, no one will notice. Don’t we do this to God far too often? We find ourselves feeling as though we have done something small or big to upset the balance we have created in our mind that keeps our relationship with God
secure. We jeopardize our relationship with Him by our own iniquity and we stop speaking to God. We get internal and try and fix the problem and somehow clean ourselves up, wash off the sin so that God can’t see it. Only then, do we muster up enough strength to even think about facing God. We do this over and over again and eventually we stop going to God all together because we realize, only God can
forgive us, only Jesus can take away the iniquity and wash us clean. How can we face the one that we sinned against? How can we ask Jesus to forgive us, when He is the one we hurt? King David finally acknowledged his sin to God and found forgiveness was right their waiting in God’s hand.
As humans, we aim for perfection, because perfection was what we were created to behold. 
When Adam and Eve were enticed by the enemy, God gave them a way out of the temptation. He even told them the “rules” to living a perfected, free life with Him. God loved his creation so much that He chose to give them free will. It was in the moment that Eve chose to grab from the wrong tree, that God’s love for His creation grew all the more. He saw that free will on earth, where the enemy prowls was His love perfected. Instead of perfect humans, without choice, freely living a perfect life here on earth all of our days, God desired relationship
above perfection. In Adam and Eve’s sin, they hid from the One they loved. They had fallen from perfection and felt it.
When God went looking for them, He already knew where they were, but knew they would keep hiding forever had He not called their names. He was setting up the very path for our lives in that moment.
In our iniquity, God showed us in the garden, that He will search for our hearts over and over again until we finally confess to Him our failure and lack of perfection. It is the most beautiful thing His creation can do.
Perfection was created in us, and could have been a reality. But because Jesus understands His creation, and loves us with a love that is wider than the universe, He desires for us to respond to His voice in the midst of our iniquity. He understands the feeling we have of wanting to be perfect before our King of
Kings. He understands that iniquity causes us pain and the desire to hide.
When God walked through the garden looking for Adam and Eve, fully knowing what they had done, He was not looking for them because He couldn’t find them. He knew where they were and what they had
done. He went searching for them to bring them out of the hiding.
“And the man and his wife (Adam and Eve) were both naked and were not ashamed” Genesis 2:25
God had not even made Adam and Eve aware of shame, guilt, fear or the feeling of separation from their creator. They could have lived this life free of those feelings. The very things that cause pain and suffering and disease in this life, they did not even yet know. And he (Adam) said,
 ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ Genesis 3:10
Fear and shame only came about due to iniquity, disobeying what God set before them to obey. Did God set the tree in the garden to temp them and to see if He could trust them? I think it is a shift on perspective and in knowing who God is and His heart. 
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself temps no one.” James 1:13
The reason the tree was in the garden was to give His creation choice, instruction, free will. He desired, even in the very beginning, to have relationship with us, His creation. In doing so, He holds all wisdom in Himself and created choice from the very beginning. Had he not put the choice in the garden and not given His wise counsel and instruction, His creation would have merely been puppets walking around, enjoying the fruit of the land for eternity. In today’s world, filled with iniquity and sadness all around us, we may think that this would have been the better route. So many believers and non-believers say, “Jesus, just take me now from this world.” But, when they say this, they are missing so much of the beauty that is still all around us.

Relationship with Jesus was and is still the most perfect thing about His creation. Through Him, this world was created. Through Him, all people and life were created. Through Him alone was relationship with our Creator made possible. Through His love for us, free will was created in us. This may have
opened up a door for us to feel and experience the depth of suffering and eternity without Him through choice, but the relationship that is found in Him when we choose Him is freedom, is life, is everything! Without choice, without iniquity and suffering, without temptation in this world, we would not fully
embrace the One that loves us with a wild love. The One that created us out of His love. So why do we hide ourselves from the very One that created us and knows us better than we know
ourselves when we sin? STOP! RUN TO HIM!!

If a toddler is told not to eat the chocolate cake on the table and you tell them, it is because it is for the birthday party you will have later that day, do you expect them to listen to you? Of course. But when they disobey your word and take a small bite out of the cake and get it all over their face and hands, they then hide under the table in fear. That baby enjoys every last grain of sugar that hits their lips, but
once their mind catches up with their taste buds, the guilt and fear sets in.
As the parent, do you know what happened? Do you fully understand the temptation the toddler was faced with? Do you know where they are hiding and that they have chocolate all over their little face? Of course. What happens next determines how much you love your toddler and how much wisdom lies
inside of you.
When God found Adam and Eve and saw that they had eaten the fruit he told them not to eat, how did He handle it? This was not just a chocolate cake, this was the balance of the entire creation of the world that Adam and Eve just “messed up”.
God begins by reiterating to them the command He had given them which was to not eat the fruit from that particular tree. Then He curses the serpent for tempting His creation. He does not curse the tree, but the one who actually tempted them, which was Satan. Then God addresses Eve. He tells her that she is going to have to suffer consequences, not just her, but all women after her life in childbearing. Her husband will rule over her and her desire will be to her husband. 
This in today’s life this seems like a normal occurrence, but to understand that this was a consequence of the first sin we witness in the world and that it is still affecting people today, shows that obedience to God is real and disobedience comes with consequences.
When the toddler ate the chocolate cake and hid under the table, this was one of the first moments for
the parent to influence their child in a Christ like way. This is an opportunity to lead their child in the importance of obedience. The consequence for the toddler may be minimal, but the standard the parent sets in that moment is a very big learning curve for years to come.
If God had not looked for them in the garden and had not disciplined them and gave them consequences for their actions, the world today would be in a position of complete failure to know a God that drives us back to His heart. It would have set the world up to look at God in a different light. God is all powerful, almighty, able to set free, forgive and also take away and to discipline.
The bible tells us that God disciplines the ones that He loves, in fact there are multiple verses in the bible that reflect the love that is found in discipline.

So it brings me back to the first initial thought. Why do we hide from others and more importantly from God when we sin? He loves us and His discipline only leads us closer to Him. It draws us to know Him more, to trust Him more and to accept Him as the authority in our lives. Jesus comes on the scene, and loves us even more! He gives us a forgiveness and breaks off curses that had once loomed over our heads from past ancestors, including Adam and Eve. Obedience and
relationship with Jesus breaks curses off of our lives. Jesus washes us free. Run to Him and be set free. No more hiding. Run to His open arms. He is not
ashamed of us when we sin. It just draws His heart to teach us to not do it again. He does not want any to perish. He wants all to walk in His glory and love.
When Jesus died, He left us a gift. With the gift of His Holy Spirit, being baptized and filled, we can live in the fullness of His love, glory, power and authority through Him and by His name! We are no longer slaves to sin. Adam and Eve were slaves to the sin that they committed and the curse followed all man until Jesus tore the veil, died on the cross, rose again and gifted us with His Spirit. We should never run and hide from Him, but rather strive to never fall short and never look at the temptation. Run, flee from temptation and run toward Jesus every moment!
He is our Counselor, our Friend, our God, our Savior, our Lord, our Redeemer, Our King of all Kings, our All in All, our Creator, our Bread of Life, The Great I Am and so much more.

If you are running today, stop where you are. Look around. What are you aiming for? Jesus is not mad. He is not the one shaming you. If you want life, forgiveness, freedom and a future, just respond to Him calling your name. He is already calling you out of hiding! He already sees the mess; He already knows what you have been walking through. But He also knows the destiny, purpose and plan that He has
personally placed on your life. The destiny that He wants fulfilled in you and through you. The destiny and purpose that He gave you alone! The enemy is the one trying to keep you in hiding! The guilt and lies and fear are not God speaking to you. Jesus loves His creation and understands that life with all its trials, suffering and mistakes that can be made. Perfection can only be found in Him. When we are living in Him, and fully embracing relationship with Him, we can walk in stride with His perfection and wisdom. 
                                                                                                                               Sarah Pierce