If you’re wearing a mask, you’re doing it wrong. Last night violence erupted on the Berkley UC campus as students, teachers and others protested a speech to be delivered by the editor of Breitbart news. According to the speaker, Milo Yiannopoulos, during the event setup the hall was breeched by masked people with weapons. His security detail got him out safely, but outside rocks were thrown and carts were burned. The most violent perpetrators wore masks, which begs the question, when you are covering your face before going out isn’t it clear that what you are about to do is wrong?

I think most of our readers would respond to the question in the affirmative, because most of our readers are people of conscience. I would suggest, however, that we all wear masks from time to time and our acts are just as evil. It is human behavior at its most basic.

For evidence I refer to Genesis chapter three. God arrives in the garden for his regular evening walk and check in with Adam and Eve, but the couple is nowhere to be found. Something terrible has happened. Knowing where Adam and Eve were hiding, and knowing they were within the sound of his voice, he asked a question: “Where are you?” To modern readers this seems an odd question, didn’t God know where they were? Of course he did. The question wasn’t regarding the first couple’s location in space, it was regarding their location in reference to him. Sin now separated them, and Adam and Eve’s response was to hide from God, covering themselves (as with a mask) to make their shame less obvious.

What Adam and Eve did literally, we do figuratively. We sin, our prayer life suffers as does our study of God’s word. We hide from God. What do we do now?

We can continue to hide from God, and our relationship with him will continue to drift on a current that leads us further and further from him. If left unattended, we may find our faith dissolving and eventually we’ll wonder how we ever believed in the first place. Not the best option. Better is to follow Adam and Eve’s example by stepping out of the forest, remove the mask, and face the God who seeks you. Should we do so we will find the same that they did, not fiery judgment and wrath but rather a Father who desires to advise us as to how we should move forward and find forgiveness. God still walks the earth looking for those with whom he can restore a relationship. Who will have the courage to meet him?

Meeting God does take courage, not because he is anxious to condemn but because restoration requires action that is often painful and heartbreaking. Our actions have consequences. We can continue to hide from God and eventually receive judgment, or we can meet him and follow his loving instruction that guides us through the sorrow of correction and find ourselves standing restored before the One who loves us most.

Where are you?

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