Fear (v. 8). Sin produces both shame and guilt, and both make sinners want to hide. Adam and Eve felt ashamed because of what they were (naked), and they felt guilty because of what they had done (disobey God). Guilt and fear usually go together, which explains why the pair didn’t want to enjoy their evening fellowship with the Lord in the garden. Adam admitted, “I was afraid” (v. 10). Trying to hide from the Lord is certainly a futile endeavor (Ps. 139:1-12), and yet guilty sinners still attempt the impossible.

Shame, fear, and guilt so transform the inner person that Adam and Eve could no longer enjoy their beautiful garden home. The trees they had tended and admired, and from which they had eaten, were now only “things” to be used to hide two frightened sinners from the face of God. This wasn’t what the trees wanted to do, but they had no choice. Nature is a window through which we see God, but Adam and Eve made it into a locked door to keep God out! One day the Savior would die on a tree so that frightened sinners could come to the Lord and find forgiveness.