When I was in high school and college, I remember the lengthy process of choosing an outfit.
I wanted to stand out, to be the loudest person in the room without even having to speak. Whether or not the clothes or shoes were comfortable (or even perfectly my size) didn’t matter. My love of patterns, bubble skirts, and glittery heels always trumped any level of comfort. I still have marks on my toes to show my commitment to beauty being pain.
Now, my morning routine looks much different. At age 30, my closet is full of clothes that make me feel comfortable. From cardigans to jeans that come up almost to my neck, I refuse to feel like a stuffed sausage for the sake of beauty anymore. There’s still a hint of my signature flair, but I want my outfit to feel like home.
My style has served as an Ebenezer of sorts for my milestones of sanctification. For most of my teenage years, I viewed my biblical knowledge as something to be showed off and flaunted in the church arena. But truthfully, I wanted people to see the clothes and my knowledge and not really see me. Through the other days of the week, I was flaunting several thorns and cycles of sin I kept as a crutch to hide my inner spiritual turmoil. I experienced true salvation at the age of 17, and as my relationship with God has become more comfortable, more safe, so has my style. I’m secure in Christ and in my closet.
As I reflect on my relationship with clothing, I’m reminded of Julian of Norwich’s work, Revelations of Divine Love. She describes a series of visions or “showings” from God that she experienced. One in chapter 5 stood out to me.
“I saw that he is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us. He is our clothing that for love wrappeth us, claspeth us, and all becloseth us for tender love, that he may never leave us; being to us all thing that is good, as to mine understanding.”
Pushing past the medieval English, the message of God’s comfort is all too familiar to those of us who know the message of the Psalms. “The Lord is my refuge” is a chant regularly sung by David. But this message of clothing hits a bit closer to home, or should I say closer to creation.
The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So, she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. – Genesis 3:6-7 CSB
As soon as creation fell from grace, the first thing they noticed was themselves. Their perception of their very being changed from perfection to…exposed, imperfect, unworthy of sight. So, with the limited knowledge they had, they sewed together fig leaves for a covering.
God’s response to them has always intrigued me, and as I’ve deepened my study His response affirms and furthers how I understand His faithfulness and love for His creation. After receiving their consequences, which they fully deserved, Adam and Eve receive a gift from the Lord.
The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them. – Genesis 3:20 CSB
Adam and Eve basically took a look at themselves, at the bodies God created in his own image, and said “this should not be shown.” I’ve always been somewhat confused as to why God didn’t tell them to take off their poorly sewn outfits and not be ashamed of their skin. Why didn’t he tell them to embrace their nakedness?
Instead, He provides his very first act of undeserved grace. He makes them clothes better than they could have done themselves. And this act is not without sacrifice. Those animals had to die to become coverings for them. A piece of His creation that was formerly good had to cease to exist to become a covering. You know another word for covering? Atonement.
What a beautiful foreshadowing of the redemption God would provide for the entirety of humanity in Jesus Christ. The same redemption he showed when the entirety of humanity was just two.
Now that I’m further into my relationship with the Lord, I’ve experienced what he gave to Adam and Eve. I’ve experienced time and time again the grace of God in my life that I could never possibly earn. I’ve experienced God as my covering and my comfort in times of trial. I’ve experienced God as my source of mercy and grace when I mistreat his good creation, whether that be my own body or not.
Adam and Eve’s shame was met with provision, with love, with the only way God is able to react in His character. His offering of a sacrificial covering has echoed through the ages. It’s echoed through the cross. The same God who offered his grace to the first two offers it to you and to me. His love is our solace and our comfort, and all we have to do is reach out and grab it.
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