The God Who Sews —

By BJ Funk —

God just made creation, gives man the opportunity to name all of the animals, places restrictions on which tree was prohibited for food, and watches Adam and his wife attempting to cover their naked bodies with makeshift clothes. Leaf clothes using leaves that started to die before Adam’s sin hit the front page of Eden’s Times.

Then God comes down. “Where are you?” God calls, more for the couple’s admission of disobedience than for their actual place in the garden. Adam admits his fear because he disobeyed their Creator. He feels guilt and embarrassment and ushers in mankind’s response to shame.

“The woman you put here with me – she gave it to me, and I ate.” God turned to the woman. “What have you done?” She follows Adam’s answer and blames the serpent. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Quickly God gives his penalty to the snake, the woman, and the man. We’re only into the third chapter of the first book in the Bible, and God’s plan for mankind is thwarted. He offers them grace on a silver platter; they offer him a paper plate carrying dead leaves that cover fruit seeds they had just spit out of their mouths.

His heart feels a short current of pain as he thought of the many roads in front of his children. He knows Satan will pounce on them again. His plan – his perfect plan – is that this first family stay in the Garden and enjoy its beauty forever. The rest of us would inherit the same. That won’t work now.

He calls his Son to join him. Sitting down at the edge of a bubbling spring, God kills an animal. Maybe a pig, goat, or a sheep. As the blood runs, God says to his Son somberly, “Remember this day. This is the first day of sacrifice. Blood will form the basis for the forgiveness of sin. And, as you already know, our ultimate plan calls for the shedding of your blood. The final sacrifice.”

As the blood flows, God takes out his needle and thread and makes new coverings for Adam and Eve. “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). These coverings are so much better. Adam and Eve almost forget they are being punished as they admire God’s handwork.

Centuries pass. Psalms are written, and one in particular dances out of the pages of history prompting God to pick up his knitting needles. This psalm lets us know that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-seeing. He gives each of us a wrapped gift when we are born. It says, “I will always be for you. I will never be against you.”

“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Not only does God choose the shape of your nose and the height of your body. He also decides your smile, your hair color, and the placement of your organs. Then he grabs a stapler and connects a tag under your skin. Your expiration date. We all come into the world with one. No one can read that date but God.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).

Next, he staples a valentine to your heart with the words, “I’m yours. Will you be mine?”  That’s all God ever wanted – to be close to you. To have an intimate walk of love with you.  For you to call on him and take him into your daily life.  To present you with the greatest gift he has, that of allowing you to know him.

Verses 1-4 of Psalm 139 paint a picture of an intimacy you never imagined. If you stand up, he knows. When you sit, he knows. He even knows when you go out and when you lie down. He knows what you are thinking.

Our mighty God who sews wants to live inside your heart. And if you mess up really badly, he will make a new covering for you.

Oh wait. He already has. Jesus Christ, your covering and mine when we decide to taste the fruit from the forbidden tree.

B.J. Funk is Good News’ long-time devotional columnist and author of  It’s A Good Day for Grace, available on Amazon. Photo: Pexels.