Sunday, October 25, 2026 • Preached by David Morrealle
Summary: Most of us meet God through gifts: a place, a role, a tradition, a season when faith came easily. Over time we start to attach God to the gift, so when it's gone, we wonder whether God went with it. Genesis 3-4 answers from the first loss in Scripture. When the man and woman hid, God came looking. When they were sent out, God clothed them for the road. When Cain's anger turned to murder, God spoke before and after, and limited the harm. The loss was real, the gate was closed, and the way back was guarded. But God was never bound to the garden. East of Eden, we lose the garden, but we do not lose the Gardener. This is the first week of a five-week series on exile, asking how we recognize God when the places, roles, and traditions where we expected God are gone.
Hiding is where the break begins, and God comes looking. The first fracture wasn't a broken rule but a broken connection. The man and woman hid, then blamed, and God's first move was to walk through the garden asking, "Where are you?" Where are you hiding right now, and what changes if you hear "Where are you?" as the sound of being looked for rather than caught?
God clothes us for the road. Right before the expulsion, God made garments of skin for the man and woman. Judgment was real and the loss was real, but God was dressing them for exile, not abandoning them. The same God warned Cain and put a mark on him to stop violence from multiplying. When have you seen care and judgment arrive together, and where might God be providing for you in a season you didn't choose?
Life with God is more like a compass than a lighthouse. We tend to treat God like a fixed point on a shore we have to get back to. Genesis shows a God who walked into the garden and also walked out of it. What have you quietly attached God to (a place, a role, a season), and what would it mean to trust that God is with you even if it's gone?
Passage for Reflection: Genesis 3:8-13, 21
8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." 13 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."
21 And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife and clothed them.
Formation Practice:
Pick one doorway you pass through every evening (the front door, the bedroom, the car door) and use the same one each night this week.
Before you go through it, pause and name one moment from the day when you hid, blamed, or withdrew.
Answer God's question, "Where are you?", in one honest sentence, out loud or in your head.
Don't explain it, fix it, or make it better. Stay a moment and let the question be an invitation, not an audit.
If you can, tell a spouse, friend, or family member that you're doing it. You don't have to share your sentence.
