Ge 3:8

Further to my previous post...

It amazes me how the Lord can teach us so much out of one word.
I previously wrote on my lesson from Genesis 3: 8
"The husband and the wife heard the sound of the Lord as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man "Where are you" and Adam answered "I heard you and I was afraid so I hid".

There is so much life in these verses...

1. The husband and wife were together - we were never meant to be alone. It was always God's intention to create perfect love, a reciprocated love between a man and a woman who were meant to enjoy their life together - they heard/recognised the Lord together, they hid together.

2. God called to the man - why did He not call to both of them or call to Eve - was it because man was always supposed to be head of the wife and accountable for the wife and to lead the wife?? Just saying - it's a legitimate observation....I have heard many say that God never intended man to be head of wife, that it was a direct consequence for sin, however, everywhere in the Bible we see a different context for women then the one we like to say is in the Bible... this just gives me food to chew (so to speak)..

3. I have already covered the 'life' I found in 'Heard the sound of the Lord as He walked in the Garden" in my previous post, however...there is a little more in it that I did not get a week ago.

They heard...
This is amazing. Think about what had happened. They had committed the ultimate sin - one that bought death! They had sinned so bad that they were ashamed and fearful for their lives, their sin was the worst sin ever - and they knew it. But guess what? They STILL heard the Lord calling them!
We tell ourselves that we can't hear the Lord, or perhaps we have not heard from Him in a long time. But Adam and Eve hid themselves and still heard the Lord calling them. Even in their sinful state and broken communion with the Lord, their ears still recognised His voice and that grew fear in their heart.
We can still hear the Lord, even if we are swimming in our sin, we can still hear the Lord. We may not like it when His voice calls our name, we may run and try to hide or avoid it - but our heart knows His voice and hears when He calls. Our sin will never block out the voice of the Lord - if we cannot hear Him it is because we are not in the right place, absent form the garden - be in His garden and nothing, not the trees we hide behind or the bushes we cower under can block out Him calling our name - John 10:27 "My sheep know my voice, I know them and they follow me".

4. The Lord was walking in the garden in the cool of the day..
The Lord made time!... He deliberately set aside special time to a) walk daily with His children. b) to enjoy the work of His own hand with company - the garden, c) created a part of the day as a blessing - the cool of the day - this implies that everyday has a time in it which is the best time to relax and enjoy His beauty.
This challenged me to ask if I make the time to walk with my husband or special people in the presence of the Lord and just simply enjoy the beauty that was created for my pleasure?!
It also implies that fellowship is important enough that our creator set it in motion.

Finally, this word from the Lord for my life has encouraged me to make more time to fellowship and enjoy this life.
The consequence of our sin (namely hard work), threatens to steal from us God's intended communion with us. He fixed the consequences of our sin when His Son was nailed to a cross and took our place of punishment. We are no longer bound by the chains of sin (Jn 8:34-36 'Whoever the Son sets free is free indeed"). We are free to walk with the Lord and have perfect communion with Him, unhindered by our nakedness - we can boldly approach His throne (Hebrews 4:16) and be clothed.

The Lord calls to us today to come and walk in the garden with Him - will we answer? Will we make the time?