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 enters the biblical story quietly. Adam does not tremble at thunder or fire. He is afraid simply because God is near. The sound of the Lord walking in the garden, once a sign of safety and fellowship, now causes him to hide. Nothing about God has changed. What has changed is Adam. Having disobeyed God’s Word, he now stands exposed before the Law, and his conscience accuses him.

Adam’s fear is not only fear of the unknown. It is the fear of a guilty sinner before a Holy God. He is naked, not merely in body, but in sin. Where trust in God’s Word has been broken, certainty is lost, and fear quickly follows. Adam does not know what God will say, because he knows what he himself has done.

This is often where we find ourselves. We face fears about the future, about our lives, even about God Himself. Our fear is not only about what we do not know, but about what we do know: our sin, our weakness, and our inability to stand before God on our own. Like Adam, we try to hide.

Yet God’s response is pursuit. “Where are you?” He asks, not because He lacks knowledge, but because He seeks the sinner. That question finds its final answer in Jesus Christ. God comes near in the flesh, bears our shame and judgment on the cross, and removes the need to hide.

Courage, then, is not the absence of fear. It is faith that trusts God’s promise when the Law has taught us to fear, and the Gospel teaches us to trust.

Prayer: Lord, when fear confronts us, remind us that You seek us in Christ. Give us faith to trust Your Word and courage to live in Your promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Daily Reading: Galatians 2

– Contributed by Jonathan LaBrie