The One Meandering

A recent read which has spent more than a few paragraphs creating some interesting images about the Garden of Eden has set me out to meander around in Eden for a bit.  I have been wondering how the ancient couple experienced God there in that place of beginning.  From what I have read about God in the Word, it is unlikely they were having a face to face encounter.  Such is taboo.  It is one of those things which the Word talks about as a dangerous thing to do.  So, how did Adam and Eve know God was present with them?

 

Verse 8 of that third chapter of Genesis points us away from what cannot be seen to what can be heard.  "They (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze..."  It was not in the seeing with eyes that God was encountered, but in a seeing made possible through the senses.  What could not be seen was heard.  We might wonder what kind of sounds the Lord God made when He was walking in the Garden.  Most likely it was not the sound of feet thudding on the ground, but some other sound which was a part of creation. 

 

Around here the evening is a favorite time for being in the garden.  The work is done.  The sweat has dried and has become a forgotten memory.  The hands have been cleaned of the dirt accumulated during the day's digging and working.  The evening is not so much a time for working as it is for walking and looking and listening to the sounds that come when the heat of the day has passed.  It is a time for letting a softer part of the day wash over you to cleanse and touch parts that belong to the realm of the soul.  It is not the seeing and the doing which is important, but the awareness that all of the senses are alive and receptive to whatever it is that is out there, or Who is meandering around out there with you.