Naked and Exposed

Naked.

Worse, naked and exposed.

Worse still, naked, exposed and vulnerable.

When we are physically naked, at least in the context of when and where we should be clothed, we normally feel exposed and vulnerable and we try to cover ourselves.  Sometimes we are successful.

When we are emotionally naked, at least in the contexts of when or where we shouldn’t be, we typically feel exposed and vulnerable and we work hard to try to cover ourselves.  Sometimes we are even successful.

When we are spiritually naked, regardless of the context, we feel very exposed and vulnerable.  We desperately try to cover ourselves but there’s nothing we can do, on our own, to successfully clothe ourselves. That’s where God comes in.  But first, some context:

From their very first realization of nakedness, Adam and Eve were afraid and tried to hide from God. While the account is one of experiencing physical nakedness, it goes beyond that since the root issue was that they had given into temptation and disobeyed God.  And nothing has really changed for mankind since.

Our usual response to feeling spiritually naked is to try to clothe ourselves with righteous deeds.  But it never works:  “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”  (Isa 64:6)

For Adam and Eve, who didn’t even know about trying to clothe themselves with righteous deeds, God made garments of skins to clothe them. 

For us, who have put on those filthy rags in an ever failing attempt to cloth ourselves spiritually, not only do they not cover us, but no amount of laundering can ever get them clean.

The only recourse is what God does for us:  “The angel spoke up to those standing all around, “’Remove his filthy clothes.’” Then he said to Joshua, “’I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you in fine clothing.”’  (Zech 3:4)

The fine clothing He dresses us in is not made of cloth but is composed of that which is of far greater value:  “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness…” (Isa 61:10).  In fact, in the book of Galatians, we find that we are clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27).

Wow, both the most extraordinary clothes and the most needed clothes are provided for us by God when we are in the most naked, exposed and vulnerable state that we can possibly be in!