“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
When my daughter Rachel was only four years old, she loved to play Hide-n-Seek. “Try and find me Daddy.” She was not hard to locate. Her hiding spots were so obvious I concluded she wanted me to find her.
The LORD God knows all our best hiding spots. He created them. Adam and Eve could not hide from God. Neither can we. His question is purely rhetorical and posed for our benefit.
“Where are you?”
Clearly, He already knows where I am but His question begs another… Do I know where I am? Have I “made a searching and fearless moral inventory”[1] of myself? Or, do I permit barely enough introspection and self-to-self-disclosure to gloss over deeper issues of significance? Is my usual moral inventory “searching and fearless” or ‘surface and tentative?’ Do I actually think I can hide from God? Or, have I only become adept at hiding from myself?
Upon rising from bed earlier today, I heard “the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden [of my heart] in the [morning] cool of [my new] day.” He expects me to answer a simple and important question...
“Where are you?”
_______________
[1] Step # 4 of “The Twelve Steps” in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous founded in 1935 by “Bill W.” and “Dr. Bob” in Akron, Ohio and recorded in the “Big Book” of A.A.
Posts
1 comment:
Wow. Many things struck me in Genesis chapters 1-3.
1) 3 times in the first 3 chapyters of Genesis, God rtefers to himself in the plural. These are the first few times in scripture where he refers to himself at all. Funny how people who deny the reality of the trinity (Mohammed) will ignore this fact.
2) First biblical promise:
"I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
Something for me to remember as I am trying to lose about 20 pounds.
Funny, no mention of a donut tree in the Garden of Eden.
3) "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."
Something I'm trying to remember this year also as I am attempting to find that happy medium my employer refers to as a work/life balance.
4) "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
I need to remember that among other things, I was put on this earth to work and produce something. I think for some of us (my self included) we can begin to thinkl of work as nothing more than a vehicle that will allow us to someday retire. I need to remember that every day, God has given me something to do.
5) The first time that the concept of fear is introduced in scripture is immediately after the fall:
"I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, si I hid." Nothing to profounbd here, just the awareness that unwarranted fear, along with every other form of maladaptive behavior is a byproduct of sin and the fall.
Post a Comment