God came to the garden knowing there was a distortion, and He began to bring that broken creation into focus.
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
God came to the garden knowing there was a distortion, and He began to bring that broken creation into focus.
It was a good Huffy BMX bike, chrome wheels, and painted all white with orange letters. Christmas was coming and I had made my petitions and made every effort to get my parents to sign an MOU (memorandum of understanding). Traditionally none of the gifts under the tree had any names on them but this was too big to wrap.
I went to visit my godmother’s house and as was my custom, I made my way up to the attic bedroom for some writing and drawing. When I turned the corner an orange glow shone from the glory of a Huffy BMX bike. I stood in awe as the hope for a snowless Christmas increased as well as the feeling of knowing that something you’d hoped for was going to happen. Now I just needed to get out of the attic before it was too….too late…I heard the sound of the steps of my father. I felt like I had ruined Christmas.
In a good creation, there was a good garden and a very good man and woman. But soon, something was amiss. God was present, Adam and Eve were present, but something was already off. Humanity ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and disrupted the economy of every relationship. Humanity now does not understand God, him or herself, each other, or creation. And sin caused separation and a major part of life was in hiding.
The unfolding story of God’s creation is not without at least two cases of irony. The first is in Adam and Eve’s decision to hide. David didn’t exist yet but he would have asked them “Where can you flee from God’s presence?” (Psalm 139:7b) And it would be millennia before Abraham Kuyper would write, recapturing the wonder of the Gospel for all of creation: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
In the garden, Adam and Eve—whether by fear or the already permeating noetic effects of sin—forgot that it was too late. When you hear the footsteps of your creator, it is already too late to hide from the one who already knows every square inch of the fig leaves or anything else we could stitch together to make us incognito.
Adam and Eve did not dismiss the potentiality of God’s presence (or involvement) in humanity and creation’s troublesome circumstance. On the contrary, it was the reality of God’s presence that led them to think they needed to hide. They heard the sound of God meandering through his fallen creation and they quickly understand that obscurity is not possible with our creator. He makes himself known to creation, even when we have made a horrible mess of it. We can be in awe of God for many things. One of which is that even when things are at their darkest, just at the right time, he comes wandering through creation in ways that tell us that he is present. It is true that omnipresence is an attribute of God. But it makes a difference when we recognize that it is a part of his character to be present.
Sin makes us forget. By chapter 4 of Genesis, brothers will be at odds and obscurity will be the pattern of humanity. By chapter 7 there will be few to call on God’s name. And the spiral of distortion between God, humanity, and creation will become increasingly warped. Few will recognize the steps of God walking through the garden or moving through the Middle East or brushing up against a bush until it burns.
How does all of this relate to those who are leaders? Well, leadership is about influence. You may not be titled or have much practical power to be listened to. But you have the influence to refocus on the things that are really important in your work aisle, at the cubicle, on the back of a trash truck, in the highly regarded assembly line, or the pulpit and the classroom. Do you hear the sound of God wandering through the garden? In the garden we find God wandering and beginning to wind back the distortion of sin’s reign on humanity and creation. It may be that His presence in your places of influence will wind things back into order there also.
God knows all, and like most fathers and mothers
he knows where his children are.
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
God knows all, and like most fathers and mothers he knows where his children are. The immediate consequences of sin could have been really ugly. Instead of angels guarding the garden, he could have sent angels to destroy or flood it. He could have burned the fig-trees, or set the snakes on Adam and Eve. Instead, he came into the garden asking questions.
Genesis 3 there was a good garden and a good man and woman but something was amiss. God was present, Adam and Eve were present but something was already off. Humanity ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and disrupted the economy of every relationship. Humanity now does not understand God, him or herself, each other, or creation.
The unfolding story of God’s creation features two cases of irony. We talked about the irony in the decision of Adam and Eve to hide. Perhaps they didn’t know it yet, but you really can’t hide from God. The second irony is God’s question in itself. God knows all and like most fathers and mothers he knows where his children are. The immediate consequences of sin could have been really ugly. Instead of angels guarding the garden God could have sent angels to destroy or flood it. He could have burned the fig-trees, or set the snakes on Adam and Eve. Instead, he came into the garden asking questions.
Where he could have come into the garden dragging them out, he came trying to draw them out. God was present, Adam and Eve and creation were present. But something was amiss. And God asked Adam in his present leadership a question that directly applies for all of humanity: Where are you? The situation really begs the question “Why are you hiding?” Which was how Adam answered. But the Lord is a good father and a good shepherd dealing with wayward sheep and a fallen creation that he is maturing. He is moving humanity and creation toward knowing that it was all made for his son and by his son (Colossians 1:16-17). This is a horrific situation but the character of God in Genesis 3 tells us that his presence is already rewinding the relationship between himself and humanity.
Do you hear the sound of God wandering through the Garden? Does it scare you? It may not be the theophany that Adam and Eve or Abraham or even Jacob experienced. How God chooses to be present is significant as well as why and what he does in his presence. It is good to be near God and all you need is his presence (Psalm 73:28.) He leads you to recognize his timeless truth in the midst of the chaos you find yourself working through this week. Those moments ask of us: where we are with the chaos? And do we get to what is best by hiding?
Leaders are influenced by God’s presence. With a Gospel lens, we see God’s presence in every circumstance and the possibility of him winding things back into order. We see that he does not always come to destroy you or others. Perhaps he comes to put things back where they need to be. Perhaps he is moving things where they need to be in order to move everything where it will be in glory.
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