Exodus 33:5 For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.

We do not use the term stiffnecked in common speech these days. I think of it as being hardheaded. I have to admit I can be and have been a hardheaded person. I had a boss that said that I’d argue with a wall. Not flattering is it? I do not give in to easy persuasion. Just because something sounds good doesn’t mean it is right.

Now I am not defending my stubborn streak. It has resulted in some good. The Lord has been very obvious and in some ways miraculous with me. It isn’t because I am special, it is because I am hardheaded. When God came for me, He didn’t do it as gently as He does with most believers. He had to slap me upside the head.

Sadly when I give my testimony people misunderstand. They think I am saying I am special, well yes, but not in a good way. I admire those who came to the Lord out of a sense of love, gently, without the need for thunder and lightning. They are more connected to the grace side of God and for the most part are gentle souls.

I on the other hand had to be slapped around to come to this point where I recognize the richness of grace. I am still a little heavy handed with grace and I apologize for that, because that is how I got here, with a more firm hand. It has taken several renditions of me to be more gracious.

1 Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

That is just how I received it.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

What did it mean to Adam to be naked in the Garden of Eden? When asked why he was hiding from God, he replied, “I was afraid.” Being afraid can imply different things but I look to what God did here in answer to Adam and Eve’s nakedness. He covered their nakedness. Think about that for a second. No matter what Adam felt, no matter how you want to feel about being caught like Adam, God covered it.

There is also the issue that God provided and killed the animal that the coats of skin were made. He did not tell Adam what to do, God provided the cover Himself. Adam had no part in the covering of his sin, shame, vulnerability, or whatever you see it to be. God did it.

Most of us overlook the significant message that we should all agree upon for the simple truth that it is in scripture. God did that while Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden, before casting them out. The simple truth here is that God did this as the sign of His intentions. It is so simple people have over and over again failed to look at the initial act of sacrifice.

God made a sacrifice for man.

Hebrews 10:9-12 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Then sacrificed Himself for us.