Uncovering and Covering: Who Told You Who You Are?

Genesis 3:7–13

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, 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 And 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 of 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 of 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 deceived me, and I ate.”  (Genesis 3:7–13, ESV)

Before I understood what it meant to be vulnerable with God before I knew there was a kind of awareness that allowed me to feel safe enough to be fully honest before Him I had quietly decided that I was the only one I could trust.

As a military spouse, that decision felt practical. Necessary, even.

With deployments, long separations, and the constant rhythm of holding things together, I learned to rely on myself emotionally. Over time, I centered my husband his needs, his absence, the stability I longed for until my desire for connection quietly became the authority shaping my identity.

I didn’t see it happening. I just knew that when he was gone, I felt unanchored. When he returned, I overextended myself trying to restore closeness and peace. What I didn’t recognize then was this: whatever we rely on most for safety will eventually shape how we see ourselves and how we come before God.

Scripture shows us this pattern clearly in the garden.

When God calls out, “Where are you?” Adam responds:

“I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Three things surface immediately:

1. God was present

2. They were afraid

3. They were aware of their nakedness and they hid

Fear did not come from God’s presence.

Fear came from a new awareness of self.

Then God asks the question that exposes the real fracture:

“Who told you that you were naked?”

God is not asking for information.

He is confronting the absence between man and himself.

He is identifying a new source of knowledge one that reshaped their self-perception and altered how they understood themselves before Him.

Before sin, nakedness carried no shame.

After sin, the same state produced hiding.

A internal shift.

Uncovering “who” the source was that they were allowing to define their self-perception.

What followed was not rebellion, but resistance to awareness.

We resist awareness when we distract, numb out, control the narrative, or avoid being examined because awareness reveals something uncomfortable: who we’ve allowed to shape our thoughts and inner life.

For many military wives, resistance looks like strength, endurance, and silence. It can feel responsible to hide. Faithful to push through. Wise to manage everything alone.

But hiding before God is not holiness.

Self-preservation is not surrender.

God’s question “Where are you?” was never meant to shame. It was an invitation into conscious awareness.

As military wives, we need to consider the health of our marriages in the context of the health of our relationship with God. Not perfect, but honest. Aware. Alert.

Our true intentions are revealed through God’s Word and in prayer, across every season, situation, and phase of the marriage journey.

To be consciously aware before God is what He has always been calling us to not to expose us, but to restore the relationship with humanity.

So the question remains:

Who told you who you are?