Bush Dwellers

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8

....."We will not emerge from behind our chosen bushes until we admit we are hiding. We can become very attached to our bushes." Dudley Hall

The need for transparency in the church is a deep one, yet transparency may be the most lacking trait in the people of God, including those who are His preachers. It's ingrained in us and it started with our "parents," Adam and Eve. Perhaps the greatest reason we are not is a mixture of two elements, pride and shame. Pride, because it is so hard for us to admit to anyone else that we've failed, don't have it altogether, and are just as imperfect, even moreso, than they are. Shame, because we condemn ourselves, with the enemy's help, that we failed, sinned, and fell short of what we believed He wanted for us, and we wanted as well. We see both elements in the actions of Adam and Eve. Their first response was to hide. To "hide" from each other by the use of the leaves to cover their nakedness, and then to seek to hide from their Father when He came to talk with them. They didn't want to come out from the bushes. We rarely do. As Hall said, we get very attached to them. Many of us have spent years hiding in them. I did.

Someone told me just this morning that they appreciated my transparency in my writings. I told them I could be so because the Lord allowed all the bushes I'd spent so much time hiding behind to die. My failures, real or imagined, were put on display for all to see. I told them that after going through the humiliation of it all, there was little I could do to keep hiding. In the end, it was a blessing. A painful blessing, but a blessing nonetheless.

What I'm talking about in this was what I walked through in the collapse of my marriage and the temporary loss of my ministry. My marriage had been steadily deteriorating almost from the beginning of my ministry. I knew that it was, and sought help through prayer, counseling, and so on, but I was paralyzed with fear that anyone should know how bad it was. I exhausted myself trying to keep the secret, and the mask I wore got more and more difficult to wear. In the end, everything collapsed upon me. My church, not just local, but district wide, saw the ruin. Added to that was that I was accused of behaviors that I was never guilty of, but at the time couldn't disprove. All I could do was trust Him for His vindication, and He did vindicate me, but in the meantime, just about everything was out in the open. My pride, my mask, my bush, no longer hid anything....and I was ashamed. Yet, He did turn the horror of this time to blessing. He restored my ministry, and my honor. And He showed me that I no longer needed to live in the bushes.

I'm not saying that we need to be open with everyone about everything. I am saying that we need to have trusted people in our lives that we can be transparent with. I'm also saying that we need to find true freedom from the fear of being "found out." God knew where in the bushes Adam and Eve were, and He knows where we are as well. He not only wants us to come out, but I believe He wants us to share with all those still hiding in their own bushes how they too can come out from them. Bush dwellers no more.

May we find freedom from the bondage of the bushes and the pride and shame that have kept us there. We were never fooling anyone anyway. They say that sharing the Gospel is a matter of one beggar telling another where to find bread. So too is it one of former bush dwellers telling current ones how to come out and be free. Let's leave the bushes and enter into His broad place of freedom.

Blessings,
Pastor O