Adam, Eve, God, and Me

“And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.  And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?’(KJV)

 

From the Scripture above, we get the idea that it was a normal thing for God to walk through the garden with Adam and Eve in the cool of day.  What a joy that must have been for Adam and Eve.  This magnificent God who had created the universe, had created both Adam and Eve, and who had prepared this perfect place for them to live, wanted to spend time with them in the cool of the day.  I can’t help wonder what the conversations were about.  I picture this God who walked with them as Father God, even though all three parts of our triune God were present within the Godhead.  I don’t picture Father God as old and bearded, but I do picture Him as a mature fatherly figure who had a smile on His face as He met with Adam and Eve each day—except for one day.  Earlier that day Adam and Eve had allowed satan to tempt them to break the one rule that God had given them.  

They ate from the forbidden tree, and Father God knew about it before He came to walk with them.   They hid from Him, as I would have.   God gently led them to admit what they had done, and then after forming clothing for them, He told them the bad news.   Because sin is not permitted in God's presence, they had to be expelled from this magnificent garden God had created for them.  Even though He expelled them, He gave them skills necessary to make their way in the outside world.  That’s the story of man, and that is the story of me.  I sin, so I can’t live in the presence of Father God.  Now, the result of sin is not just being expelled from the Garden of Eden, it is assignment to hell for eternity.  So my relationship with Father God must be a sorrowful one for both of us.  His desire to spend time with me is greater than my desire to be with Him.  Father God was so sorrowful over this circumstance that He created once again.  He created a way for me (and you and everybody else) to spend eternity with Him.   He asked His beloved Son, Jesus, to leave His home with Father God, come to earth, take on the life and body of a human, and accept the punishment for the sin of everybody who would ever live.   To do that, Father God had to actually turn His back on His beloved Son.  I believe that necessary action hurt Him as much as it did Jesus, but He did it for me.  You see, I am His favorite.  Wait a minute—you are His favorite, also, and so is Gordon McGyver of Belfast, and so is Manuel Gonzales of Buenos Aires.  

Adam and Eve may have disobeyed God and got the human race expelled from the Garden of Eden, but I have broken many of the rules God gave us since the Graden of Eden.  What makes me think that I wouldn’t have broken that first rule?  Adam and Eve and all of us have been given freedom of choice.  Sometimes I wonder how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before they ate from the forbidden tree.  They exercised their freedom of choice as I do every day.  And I certainly do not have a spotless record in exercising my freedom of choice.  But God is as good to me as He was to Adam and Eve, as He has provided the ONE and ONLY WAY for me to spend eternity with Him.  Thank you God, for being a merciful and loving Father to Adam, Eve, Gordon McGyver, Manuel Gonzales, me, and everybody else.