The Day God Became a Seamstress

“On the day the world began to die, God became a seamstress. This is the moment in the Bible that I wish we talked about more often. When Eve and Adam eat from the tree, and decay and despair begin to creep in, when they learn to hide from their own bodies, when they learn to hide from each other—no one ever told me the story of a God who kneels and makes clothes out of animal skin for them.”

-Chuck DeGroat quoting Cole Arthur Riley in ”This Here Flesh”

At the time of this writing, I am almost finished reading the book “Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself—and to God—When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering” by Chuck DeGroat.

Sometimes we get into a state of mind where we think we know God. At least it happens to me occasionally, like recently I was at a place where it was a few months since some attribute of God or His word didn’t pop up. I didn’t think anything could rise up and cause me to stop and truly worship with fresh eyes the one who saved me from sin and set my feet on a new path.

Having read a large number of mostly apologetic and theological books in the last number of years, I was at a place where I could simply trust God where I could not understand. There it was though… while reading this book, the words stared at me.

God became a seamstress!

Why is this significant?

Many modern Christians see two different Gods. They see a God of the Old Testament who, in their culture-soaked minds, is vengeful and vindictive, and a God of the New Testament who is loving, charitable, and kind. Is this true, though? Perhaps we have missed God as we have zipped through pages in the Bible without deep study or contemplation. On this “two versions of God” issue, I highly recommend reading Paul Copan’s book “Is God a Vindictive Bully?” for help on tough passages in the Bible.

I know we tend to think of the creation story in Genesis first… and it does start there; but before we go there, let’s start in John 1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:1-14 NRSV

In the beginning, that is Genesis one! I wanted to share this because this passage shares a message of incredible hope for mankind. It portrays the heart of Gods love from the birthplace of the entire universe!

In Genesis we see the story unfold after creation. God is in relationship with man and woman. They are one, there is no conflict or pain, the world is absolutely perfect!

“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Genesis 1:27-31 NRSV

Remember that passage from John 1? “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God. He (Jesus) was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him (Jesus), and without him (Jesus) not one thing came into being”. As this reality sinks in we can see how Jesus was in Garden with God. He communed with him! Earlier in Genesis we read that God says “Let US make man(kind) in our image”. God (Jesus) was hands-on in creating humans. Every other animal or insect he spoke into being but Adam and later Eve was personally knit together as an act of divine love!

Can you imagine walking in Eden with God… Jesus? To commune with Him as if you are talking to your best friend must have been something that Adam and Eve deeply missed their whole lives. This perfection would not continue though, trust was broken as we know. The story goes like this:

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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, who was with her, 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 loincloths for themselves.”

Genesis 3:1-7 NRSV

Adam and Eve knew something changed… they felt this intense regret. They were ashamed of their bodies suddenly, they were ashamed of their sin. We have all felt that shame if we are honest, that complete overwhelm of failure. There is an emptiness when sin is done with you! All that is left is a deep regret and hopelessness. I would imagine, having directly communicated with God that Adam and Eve had no idea what to do… as we do - they hid. They hid from each other with hastily gathering leaves and also they hid from God…

“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?””

Genesis 3:8-9 NRSV

Adam, where are you? Of course, as the Hebrew word indicates God was not only calling Adam but Eve as well as the word “אָדָם” which is translated “Adam” also refers to “mankind”. Those words must have hung out there. I can only imagine the intense fear that they must have had. They messed up badly and for the first time in history mankind felt the weight of sin.

“He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?””

Genesis 3:10-11 NRSV

Do you see Gods patience here? His compassion for Adam and Eve? He knew of course what happened the moment it happened. He knew it would happen before it happened. Yet here he was, asking the obvious question!

“The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.”

Genesis 3:12-14 NRSV

We know of course that the serpent is Satan himself. We know God knew all of what happened… and I’m certain Adam and Eve knew as well. Satan would most certainly have known as an angelic being that God knew exactly what happened. Despite this, Adam threw Eve under the bus, Eve said the snake did it… God knew it all.

“The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.”

Genesis 3:20-21 NRSV

And this is where I want to rest… God became a seamstress. Let’s stop and think about that. This God who SPOKE the Big Bang that created everything we see today in our universe into existence, who spoke the dry land and the stars and every animal into perfection, this God (Jesus) got his hands dirty so to speak and took an animal skin and fashioned the first clothes that mankind would ever wear for Adam and Eve.

Does this not move your heart?

Isaiah 42:3 says “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”

God could see their remorse. He showed compassion… and he got personally involved on a physical level to help comfort them in their transition to mortality, east of Eden.

““On the day the world began to die, God became a seamstress. This is the moment in the Bible that I wish we talked about more often. When Eve and Adam eat from the tree, and decay and despair begin to creep in, when they learn to hide from their own bodies, when they learn to hide from each other—no one ever told me the story of a God who kneels and makes clothes out of animal skin for them. I remember many conversations about the doom and consequence imparted by God after humans ate from that tree. I learned of the curses, too, and could maybe even recite them. But no one ever told me of the tenderness of this moment. . . . When shame had replaced Eve’s and Adam’s dignity, God became a seamstress. He took the skin off of his creation to make something that would allow humans to stand in the presence of their maker and one another again.”

Cole Arthur Riley in This Here Flesh

“The same God who attuned so compassionately to Adam and Eve comes in the flesh, embodied, one with us in order to bear our wounds, in order to forgive us, in order to heal us. Like the father who wraps his prodigal son in the family’s “best robe” (Luke 15: 22), so God the seamstress attends to you with great curiosity, care, and compassion. Perhaps you can let yourself feel it too.”

— Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself—and to God—When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering by Chuck DeGroat