More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP: Gen; 3,7 Naked and Ashamed
Fig leaves were humanity's first attempt at covering shame—and we've been crafting inadequate coverings ever since. Dr. Robert Jackson (lovingly known as "Dr. Papa") takes us deep into Genesis 3:7, where Adam and Eve's eyes were opened to evil and they immediately experienced the twin burdens of guilt and shame that continue to plague humanity today.
The moment sin entered the garden, everything changed. Where once Adam and Eve walked in perfect transparency with God and each other, they now felt exposed, vulnerable, and desperate to hide. Their hasty solution—sewing fig leaves into loin coverings—represents our perpetual but futile attempts to mask our spiritual nakedness through human effort. Dr. Papa points out with gentle wisdom that they covered their reproductive organs rather than their faces, suggesting sin immediately corrupted God's beautiful design for human sexuality and fruitfulness.
What makes this devotional especially powerful is how Dr. Papa connects this ancient story to our modern struggles. Guilt and shame still drive people away from God (who alone can forgive), away from loved ones, and into destructive behaviors like addiction, anger, and isolation. Our self-made "fig leaves"—whether they're achievements, religious performance, or carefully crafted public personas—remain as inadequate as those first coverings in Eden. The message resonates with striking clarity: only Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, can provide the robes of righteousness we desperately need. His invitation remains the same: confess your shame, turn from your old life, and receive His covering grace freely offered to all who will accept it.
Ready to exchange your fig leaves for His righteousness? Listen now and discover why this ancient story holds the key to freedom from guilt and shame today. Subscribe to Devotions with Dr. Papa for more insights that bridge Scripture and everyday life with wisdom and compassion.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around, grab your Bibles and let's look into the written Word, which reveals to us the living Word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Today we're at Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 7. Let me read the verse to you. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Now, if you remember, in our previous lessons we learned that the serpent had deceived Adam and Eve, convincing them that if they took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that it would make them wise and they would be like God, knowing good and evil and being fully deceived. The woman, seeing that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from this fruit and she ate. She gave also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. And that brings us to verse 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Now let's look at this verse phrase by phrase. First of all, it says the eyes of both of them were opened. Please understand. They already knew good. They were personally acquainted with the goodness of God, they were acquainted with how he had abundantly provided for them and they knew that he was, as we sing in church, a good good God. But now they were personally acquainted with evil, their own evil, and they realized that they themselves were evil and that they were openly rebellious against this good good God. Lucifer had promised a counterfeit wisdom, but rather than becoming wise, which you and I know comes from the consequence of fearing and obeying God, they chose disobedience and became foolish, foolish sinners. And they became acquainted with sin, which opened their eyes to an entire other, sinister world that opposed God and lured people into its trap. Lured people into its trap, but having their eyes open to evil condemned all their posterity, all ensuing generations, to spiritual blindness. Rather than opening the eyes of themselves and their posterity, it condemned their posterity to spiritual blindness.
Dr. Robert Jackson:The Bible says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. In fact, in the book of Ephesians, the Bible tells us Paul is speaking to the Ephesians church and he says this I say and affirm, together with the Lord, that you walk no longer, just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. You understand that being darkened in the understanding is spiritual blindness and it leads to being spiritually ignorant and being hardened in one's heart. All of this is a consequence of what Adam and Eve chose to do in rebelling against God. Not only did they know sin when their eyes were opened, but they immediately knew and personally experienced guilt and shame. How do we know that? Because the scripture tells us that they first realized. The thing that they first realized was that they were naked. They were exposed and vulnerable. They were no longer comfortable in one another's presence with the knowledge of what they had done, and they felt the need to cover up. They were naked and exposed.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Guilt and shame are powerful influences that drive people away from God who alone can forgive? It drives people away from one another, away from family and away from God who alone can forgive. It drives people away from one another, away from family and away from friends, and into seclusion and hiding. Guilt and shame drive people to alcohol and drugs, to anger and bitterness. Guilt and shame drives people to a victim mentality. Adam and Eve were instantly guilty, instantly ashamed and aware of their exposure, their physical nakedness. But sin also makes us emotionally and spiritually naked in the presence of God. It makes us emotionally and spiritually vulnerable, which is just as terrifying, which is why we hide our sin from God and from each other.
Dr. Robert Jackson:There are a lot of firsts in Genesis, chapter 2 and chapter 3. We see the creation of the first man and the first woman. We see the first commands by God woman. We see the first commands by God. We see the first temptation, the first sin, and in verse seven we meet the first sowist. What's a sowist? Well, a sowist is somebody who loves to sow Not a seamstress, but a sowist. You see, my wife is a sowist.
Dr. Robert Jackson:When I first heard her say that word, I said what in the world is a sewist? She said a sewist is somebody who loves to sew. Now I'm going to tell you my wife disappears every day upstairs to her little room where she has multiple sewing machines, not just one, but three and she sews clothing for our grandchildren, grandchildren, and if she had her druthers she would stay up there all day, every day. And the thing that makes her happier than anything is is sewing pretty little dresses and little suits for these little boys and dresses for the little girls, and that makes her happier than anything. She is a sewist.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Well, in verse 7, we meet the first sewist, because you see Adam and Eve sewed for themselves fig leaves in order to cover up their exposure. They made loin coverings. When my patients are embarrassed I want you to pay close attention to this when my patients are embarrassed or ashamed, they put their face in their hands and they cover up their face. Now let me ask you why did Adam and Eve not create a mask to cover their faces, to hide their shame, their embarrassment and their guilt? Have you ever wondered about that? Let me explain something to you. It's because the command that God gave them in Genesis, chapter 1. In verse 28. Was to be fruitful and multiply, which involved their procreative parts, which they instinctively Covered up. And ever since that day, when they sinned in the garden, ever since then, that which God intended to be beautiful and sacred, when a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and they become one flesh One flesh that beautiful and sacred thing has become corrupted by sinful men, with fornication, adultery, polygamy, concubines, prostitution, homosexuality and abortion, all of which defy the original plan of God for one man and one woman to be married for life and to produce children to fill the earth. So this first sowist sowed loin coverings, not a face covering. But let me ask a question Can a man make a covering that would adequately cover our sin? You know the answer to that Absolutely not, of course not.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Isaiah tells us that the filthy rags of our self-made righteousness will not cover our sin or our rebellion against holy God. What can you do to erase a single sin? Have you ever pondered that? What can you do to cover or atone for your shame and guilt in the presence of God's holiness? As Isaiah tells us, we need garments of salvation and we need robes of righteousness. That's in Isaiah 61, in verse 10. We need robes of righteousness which only Jehovah, jireh, the Lord who provides, can give to those who trust in the Lamb, the perfect Lamb of God, which he provided, as we will discuss later when we get further down in chapter 3, god provided clothing for Adam and Eve at the expense of the life of probably a lamb who gave its life's blood to atone for, to cover up their nakedness, their shame and their guilt. Once again, I remind you that these things do not happen by accident in the book of Genesis. These things happen by divine design. That lamb was slain to cover their sin and shame, as a portrait, as a painting, as a picture of that which would eventually come in the fullness of time, when God's perfect lamb, the Passover lamb, would give his life to atone for, to cover all of our sin and our shame.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Dear listener, is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to your heart today, convicting of spiritual exposure, spiritual sin, shame and guilt? Do you realize that your man-made covering is totally inadequate? Let me remind you that Jesus took your sin, he took your shame and he nailed it to the cross that you might bear it no more. He offers to you a snow-white robe of His righteousness as a totally free gift. Confess to Him your shame and guilt, turn your back on your old way of life and receive Jesus as your only Savior and the true King of your life. That's the invitation that a loving Heavenly Father extends to you. This day You're listening to Devotions with Dr Papa. If you like what you hear, follow, like and share, tell your friends about it, download it, and we'll be back again next week when we continue our lessons in the book of Genesis. Till then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books or to schedule a speaking engagement Dr Jackson's books or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Slone Audio Production at bobslone. com.
