“…So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. (…) And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.” (Gen 3: 6-7, 21)
Right after “The Fall”; after our decision to grasp “the knowledge of good and evil” from the tree, and not God’s way, we immediately felt the need to protect ourselves from “the elements” of God’s created world, by covering ourselves up from it, with the very-first technology, of clothing. We had fallen into disharmony with the Oneness of our Creator and His created world, which we suddenly perceived as hostile to us. So we applied our newly-found “knowledge” and “sewed fig leaves together,” naively imagining that they would protect us from a newly-hostile environment, because we were still very “new” to this situation, and applied our newly-found “knowledge” in an awkward manner.
What did God do then, after He questioned us, and established our lack of contrition, for eating of the forbidden fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (because neither Adam or Eve accepted responsibility for this decision)? Amazingly, He went along with our very-first, merely-human “solution” to our newly-found, painful self-awareness, and resulting need to clothe ourselves, – and helped us to improve it, by making us better and longer-lasting clothing, “of skins.” So He begins our restoration, and to help us up, after the Fall, by fostering our own idea, which we ourselves had come up with, to help ourselves.
Thank You, God, for encouraging us to help ourselves, with our technological advances, while also touching them with Your input, by Your grace. Help me to do the next right thing today, however awkwardly I do this in my present state. And please touch my ever-insufficient efforts to “cover” myself from any iniquity, either from within or outside myself, with Your grace.
